Zacks.com Highlights: Cosan, ArcelorMittal, Legg Mason, Bed Bath & Beyond And General Motors

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – March 1, 2018 - Stocks in this week’s article include: Cosan Limited (NYSE:CZZ) , ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) , Legg Mason, Inc. (NYSE:LM) , Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY) and General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) .

Screen of the Week of Zacks Investment Research:

Buy 5 Low P/CF Stocks to Sail Through Market Volatility

The prevailing volatility in Wall Street has rattled even the most ardent of investors, who started taking stock of their portfolio, overlooking the impressive earnings display by corporates for a while. Nevertheless, the market for now seems to have somewhat settled trying to accommodate rising bond yields and a possible uptick in inflation, with the backdrop dominated by the latest tax reform and healthy economic growth.

What’s the Optimum Strategy?

Warren Buffett once said,“It is far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.” The strategy is very simple – find stocks that are trading below their inherent worth.

Investment in stocks made on diligent value analysis is usually considered one of the best practices. In value investing, investors pick stocks that are cheap but fundamentally sound. So chances are high that these stocks will allow investors to book profits when the market trends upward.

There are a number of ratios to identify value stocks but none alone can conclusively determine their inherent potential. Each ratio helps an investor to understand a particular aspect of the company’s business. One such ratio, Price to Cash Flow (or P/CF), can work wonders in stock picking, if used prudently. This metric evaluates the market price of a stock relative to the amount of cash flow that the company is generating on a per share basis – the lower the number, the better.

Why Price to Cash Flow?

You must be wondering why we are considering this when the most widely used valuation metric is Price/Earnings (or P/E). Well, one of the important factors that makes P/CF a highly dependable metric is that operating cash flow adds back non-cash charges such as depreciation and amortization to net income, truly diagnosing the financial health of a company.

Analysts caution that a company’s earnings are subject to accounting estimates and management manipulation. Then again, cash flow is quite reliable. Net cash flow unveils how much money a company is actually generating and how effectively management is deploying the same.

A positive cash flow indicates an increase in the company’s liquid assets. This gives the company the means to settle debt, shell out for its expenses, reinvest in its business, endure downturns and finally undertake shareholder-friendly moves. On the other hand, a negative cash flow implies a decline in the company’s liquidity, which in turn lowers its flexibility to support these endeavors.

However, an investment decision solely based on the P/CF metric may not fetch the desired results. To identify stocks that are trading at a discount, you should expand your search criteria and take into account price-to-book ratio, price-to-earnings ratio and price-to-sales ratio. Adding a favorable Zacks Rank and a Value Score of A or B to your search criteria should lead to even better results as these eliminate the chance of falling into a value trap.

And that's what we're screening for today…

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/293996/buy-5-low-pcf-stocks-to-sail-through-market-volatility

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Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

About Screen of the Week

Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine. But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

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