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Are Investors Undervaluing Cars.com (CARS) Right Now?

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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, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

One company value investors might notice is Cars.com (CARS - Free Report) . CARS is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 8.79, while its industry has an average P/E of 25.16. Over the last 12 months, CARS's Forward P/E has been as high as 44.08 and as low as 8.39, with a median of 22.23.

Another notable valuation metric for CARS is its P/B ratio of 2.64. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 5.12. CARS's P/B has been as high as 3.18 and as low as 2.06, with a median of 2.53, over the past year.

Finally, our model also underscores that CARS has a P/CF ratio of 6.02. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. CARS's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 15.18. CARS's P/CF has been as high as 7.51 and as low as 4.70, with a median of 5.78, all within the past year.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Cars.com's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, CARS looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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