Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is Cars.com (CARS) a Great Value Stock Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

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.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 Cars.com (CARS - Free Report) . CARS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. CARS has a P/S ratio of 1.16. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.25.

Finally, our model also underscores that CARS has a P/CF ratio of 5.28. 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. CARS's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 14.63. Over the past year, CARS's P/CF has been as high as 9.71 and as low as 4.20, with a median of 7.09.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Cars.com is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, CARS sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Cars.com Inc. (CARS) - free report >>

Published in