Are These Finance Stocks Undervalued Right Now?

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.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. 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 Merchants Bancorp (MBIN). MBIN 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 8.34 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 13.45. Over the past 52 weeks, MBIN's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.72 and as low as 5.78, with a median of 6.76.

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 prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. MBIN has a P/S ratio of 2.99. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 3.03.

Finally, investors should note that MBIN has a P/CF ratio of 6.06. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. MBIN's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 18.23. Over the past year, MBIN's P/CF has been as high as 6.88 and as low as 4.35, with a median of 5.18.

If you're looking for another solid Banks - Northeast value stock, take a look at Unity Bancorp (UNTY). UNTY is a # 2 (Buy) stock with a Value score of A.

Furthermore, Unity Bancorp holds a P/B ratio of 1.40 and its industry's price-to-book ratio is 1.79. UNTY's P/B has been as high as 1.45, as low as 1.04, with a median of 1.26 over the past 12 months.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Merchants Bancorp and Unity Bancorp are likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, MBIN and UNTY sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.

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Merchants Bancorp (MBIN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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