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Should Value Investors Buy China Automotive Systems (CAAS) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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 to watch right now is China Automotive Systems (CAAS - Free Report) . CAAS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 10.50. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.52. Over the past year, CAAS's Forward P/E has been as high as 13.07 and as low as 3.94, with a median of 7.35.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. CAAS has a P/S ratio of 0.23. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.5.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that CAAS has a P/CF ratio of 4.65. 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 7.78. Within the past 12 months, CAAS's P/CF has been as high as 6.89 and as low as 2.76, with a median of 4.52.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in China Automotive Systems'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, CAAS looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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