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Should Value Investors Buy These Consumer Staples Stocks?

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While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.

One company to watch right now is Imperial Tobacco Group (IMBBY - Free Report) . IMBBY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 5.69, which compares to its industry's average of 11.04. Over the past year, IMBBY's Forward P/E has been as high as 7.23 and as low as 5.52, with a median of 6.26.

Investors should also recognize that IMBBY has a P/B ratio of 2.30. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 3.19. Over the past 12 months, IMBBY's P/B has been as high as 3.29 and as low as 2.30, with a median of 2.84.

Investors could also keep in mind JAPAN TOB (JAPAY - Free Report) , an Tobacco stock with a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) and Value grade of A.

JAPAN TOB also has a P/B ratio of 1.20 compared to its industry's price-to-book ratio of 3.19. Over the past year, its P/B ratio has been as high as 1.43, as low as 1.20, with a median of 1.36.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Imperial Tobacco Group and JAPAN TOB are likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, IMBBY and JAPAY feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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