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Should Value Investors Buy Quanex Building Products (NX) Stock?

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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.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader 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.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

One company value investors might notice is Quanex Building Products (NX - Free Report) . NX is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 10.36, which compares to its industry's average of 10.99. Over the past year, NX's Forward P/E has been as high as 13.45 and as low as 9.30, with a median of 11.50.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. NX has a P/S ratio of 0.62. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.08.

Finally, investors should note that NX has a P/CF ratio of 6.28. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 14.12. Over the past year, NX's P/CF has been as high as 8.57 and as low as 5.57, with a median of 7.36.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Quanex Building Products'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 NX is an impressive value stock right now.


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