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Should Value Investors Buy Private Bancorp of America (PBAM) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

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 rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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.

One company value investors might notice is Private Bancorp of America (PBAM - Free Report) . PBAM is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 7.51, while its industry has an average P/E of 13.51. Over the past 52 weeks, PBAM's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.28 and as low as 4.84, with a median of 6.60.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is PBAM's P/B ratio of 1.24. 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. PBAM's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.91. Over the past year, PBAM's P/B has been as high as 1.30 and as low as 1, with a median of 1.08.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. PBAM has a P/S ratio of 1.74. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.94.

Finally, investors should note that PBAM has a P/CF ratio of 8.23. 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. PBAM's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 16.15. Over the past year, PBAM's P/CF has been as high as 8.62 and as low as 4.98, with a median of 5.28.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Private Bancorp of America is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, PBAM feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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