Should Value Investors Buy Regional Management (RM) Stock?

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.

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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.

One company value investors might notice is Regional Management (RM). RM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 3.42 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 8.24. Over the last 12 months, RM's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.60 and as low as 2.83, with a median of 7.01.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is RM's P/B ratio of 0.50. 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 company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 0.90. Within the past 52 weeks, RM's P/B has been as high as 1.32 and as low as 0.42, with a median of 1.04.

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. RM has a P/S ratio of 0.45. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.69.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that RM has a P/CF ratio of 2.82. 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. RM's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 5.05. Over the past year, RM's P/CF has been as high as 7.92 and as low as 2.33, with a median of 6.84.

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