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Is Ryerson (RYI) Stock Undervalued Right Now?

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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 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 company value investors might notice is Ryerson (RYI - Free Report) . RYI is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is RYI's P/B ratio of 1.47. 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 1.52. Over the past year, RYI's P/B has been as high as 2.72 and as low as 0.90, with a median of 1.36.

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. RYI has a P/S ratio of 0.2. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.32.

Another great Steel - Producers stock you could consider is Olympic Steel (ZEUS - Free Report) , which is a # 1 (Strong Buy) stock with a Value Score of A.

Olympic Steel sports a P/B ratio of 1.06 as well; this compares to its industry's price-to-book ratio of 1.52. In the past 52 weeks, ZEUS's P/B has been as high as 1.27, as low as 0.50, with a median of 0.73.

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


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