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Are Investors Undervaluing Citizens (CIA) 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.

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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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.

Citizens (CIA - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. CIA 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 8.01, which compares to its industry's average of 8.20. Over the past year, CIA's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.65 and as low as 6.08, with a median of 7.37.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CIA's P/B ratio of 0.90. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.86. Over the past year, CIA's P/B has been as high as 1.19 and as low as 0.49, with a median of 0.80.

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. CIA has a P/S ratio of 0.63. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.88.

Finally, we should also recognize that CIA has a P/CF ratio of 5.51. 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 16.71. Over the past year, CIA's P/CF has been as high as 10.89 and as low as 3.21, with a median of 4.83.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Citizens's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that CIA is an impressive value stock right now.


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