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Are Investors Undervaluing Barrett Business Services (BBSI) Right Now?

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The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks.

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 tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

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 Barrett Business Services (BBSI - Free Report) . BBSI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 16.81 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 24.45. BBSI's Forward P/E has been as high as 17.39 and as low as 12.10, with a median of 15.03, all within the past year.

We also note that BBSI holds a PEG ratio of 1.12. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. BBSI's industry currently sports an average PEG of 2.64. BBSI's PEG has been as high as 1.24 and as low as 0.86, with a median of 1.07, all within the past year.

We should also highlight that BBSI has a P/B ratio of 4.70. 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 solid versus its industry's average P/B of 13.02. Within the past 52 weeks, BBSI's P/B has been as high as 4.82 and as low as 3.20, with a median of 4.07.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. BBSI has a P/S ratio of 0.86. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Barrett Business Services'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, BBSI looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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