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Should Value Investors Buy Eagle Financial Services (EFSI) 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.

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.

On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.

One company value investors might notice is Eagle Financial Services (EFSI - Free Report) . EFSI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 9.01 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 10.29. Over the past 52 weeks, EFSI's Forward P/E has been as high as 9.32 and as low as 8.06, with a median of 8.93.

Another notable valuation metric for EFSI is its P/B ratio of 1.01. 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. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 1.79. Within the past 52 weeks, EFSI's P/B has been as high as 1.10 and as low as 0.88, with a median of 1.00.

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. EFSI has a P/S ratio of 1.67. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.07.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Eagle Financial Services'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, EFSI looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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