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Are Investors Undervaluing US Foods (USFD) Right Now?
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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. 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 stock to keep an eye on is US Foods (USFD - Free Report) . USFD is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A.
We also note that USFD holds a PEG ratio of 0.87. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. USFD's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.24. Over the past 52 weeks, USFD's PEG has been as high as 1.05 and as low as 0.65, with a median of 0.80.
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. USFD has a P/S ratio of 0.43. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.95.
These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that US Foods is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, USFD feels like a great value stock at the moment.