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Are These Transportation Stocks a Great Value Stocks Right Now?

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Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

ArcBest (ARCB - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. ARCB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 8.32, while its industry has an average P/E of 18.83. Over the past year, ARCB's Forward P/E has been as high as 97.24 and as low as 7.65, with a median of 11.83.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is ARCB's P/B ratio of 2.44. 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 company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 4.04. Within the past 52 weeks, ARCB's P/B has been as high as 3.30 and as low as 1.53, with a median of 2.31.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. ARCB has a P/S ratio of 0.53. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.31.

Finally, we should also recognize that ARCB has a P/CF ratio of 6.94. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. ARCB's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 14.24. Within the past 12 months, ARCB's P/CF has been as high as 11.47 and as low as 5.59, with a median of 7.75.

Investors could also keep in mind USA Truck , an Transportation - Truck stock with a Zacks Rank of # 1 (Strong Buy) and Value grade of A.

Additionally, USA Truck has a P/B ratio of 1.81 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 4.04. For USAK, this valuation metric has been as high as 2.27, as low as 1.25, with a median of 1.60 over the past year.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that ArcBest and USA Truck are likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, ARCB and USAK feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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