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Are Investors Undervaluing El Pollo Loco (LOCO) 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.

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

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.

El Pollo Loco (LOCO - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. LOCO is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 15.29, which compares to its industry's average of 23.17. LOCO's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.29 and as low as 9.75, with a median of 12.39, all within the past year.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. LOCO has a P/S ratio of 0.68. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.9.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that LOCO has a P/CF ratio of 7.38. 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. LOCO's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 16.92. Over the past 52 weeks, LOCO's P/CF has been as high as 9.95 and as low as 6.09, with a median of 7.12.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that El Pollo Loco is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, LOCO sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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