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Should Value Investors Buy Old Republic International (ORI) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. 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 value investors might notice is Old Republic International (ORI - Free Report) . ORI is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 9.36 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 10.82. Over the last 12 months, ORI's Forward P/E has been as high as 11.94 and as low as 8.39, with a median of 10.12.

Investors should also recognize that ORI has a P/B ratio of 1.17. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. ORI's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.69. Over the past year, ORI's P/B has been as high as 1.28 and as low as 1.02, with a median of 1.16.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. ORI has a P/S ratio of 0.87. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Old Republic International's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that ORI is an impressive value stock right now.


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