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Should Value Investors Buy BCB Bancorp NJ (BCBP) Stock?

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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.

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

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

BCB Bancorp NJ (BCBP - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. BCBP is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 8.17 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 9.69. Over the past year, BCBP's Forward P/E has been as high as 9.05 and as low as 4.88, with a median of 7.16.

Investors should also recognize that BCBP has a P/B ratio of 0.69. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 1.33. Within the past 52 weeks, BCBP's P/B has been as high as 0.79 and as low as 0.54, with a median of 0.65.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's 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. BCBP has a P/S ratio of 1.06. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.85.

Finally, our model also underscores that BCBP has a P/CF ratio of 9.68. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. BCBP's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 13.35. Over the past year, BCBP's P/CF has been as high as 10.25 and as low as 4.45, with a median of 6.29.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in BCB Bancorp NJ'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, BCBP looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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