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Is Global Ship Lease (GSL) a Great Value Stock Right Now?

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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.

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 fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 stock to keep an eye on is Global Ship Lease (GSL - Free Report) . GSL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 2.38 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 3.61. Over the past 52 weeks, GSL's Forward P/E has been as high as 6.06 and as low as 2.04, with a median of 3.49.

We should also highlight that GSL has a P/B ratio of 0.82. 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. GSL's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.12. Within the past 52 weeks, GSL's P/B has been as high as 1.54 and as low as 0.70, with a median of 1.21.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. GSL has a P/S ratio of 1.2. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.28.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that GSL has a P/CF ratio of 2.52. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. GSL's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 3.03. Over the past year, GSL's P/CF has been as high as 7.27 and as low as 2.15, with a median of 4.81.

If you're looking for another solid Transportation - Shipping value stock, take a look at Safe Bulkers (SB - Free Report) . SB is a # 2 (Buy) stock with a Value score of A.

Additionally, Safe Bulkers has a P/B ratio of 0.63 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 1.12. For SB, this valuation metric has been as high as 1.12, as low as 0.55, with a median of 0.74 over the past year.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Global Ship Lease and Safe Bulkers strong Value grade, but they help show that the stocks are likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, GSL and SB look like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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