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Should Value Investors Buy PCB Bancorp (PCB) 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.

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 stock to keep an eye on is PCB Bancorp (PCB - Free Report) . PCB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 10.83, which compares to its industry's average of 14.39. PCB's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.02 and as low as 7.70, with a median of 9.43, all within the past year.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is PCB's P/B ratio of 0.95. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. PCB's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.03. Over the past 12 months, PCB's P/B has been as high as 1.19 and as low as 0.74, with a median of 0.85.

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. PCB has a P/S ratio of 1.45. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.

Finally, our model also underscores that PCB has a P/CF ratio of 9.43. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. PCB's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 18.60. PCB's P/CF has been as high as 10.09 and as low as 5.71, with a median of 7.41, all within the past year.

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


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