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Should Value Investors Buy Green Dot (GDOT) 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.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. 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.

Green Dot (GDOT - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. GDOT is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 9.01, while its industry has an average P/E of 20.37. Over the past 52 weeks, GDOT's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.33 and as low as 6.40, with a median of 8.57.

Finally, our model also underscores that GDOT has a P/CF ratio of 6.72. 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 stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 20.59. GDOT's P/CF has been as high as 11.51 and as low as 5.53, with a median of 7.18, all within the past year.

Investors could also keep in mind WEX (WEX - Free Report) , an Financial Transaction Services stock with a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) and Value grade of A.

WEX is currently trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 11.60 while its PEG ratio sits at 1.59. Both of the company's metrics compare favorably to its industry's average P/E of 20.37 and average PEG ratio of 1.30.

Over the last 12 months, WEX's P/E has been as high as 14.46, as low as 9.20, with a median of 12.02, and its PEG ratio has been as high as 1.92, as low as 0.49, with a median of 0.67.

WEX sports a P/B ratio of 4.43 as well; this compares to its industry's price-to-book ratio of 6.26. In the past 52 weeks, WEX's P/B has been as high as 5.32, as low as 3.08, with a median of 4.35.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Green Dot and WEX strong Value grade, but they help show that the stocks are likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, GDOT and WEX look like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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