Zacks.com Highlights: United Natural Foods, Avnet, Greenbrier, MetLife And SK Telecom

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – Dec 4, 2017 - Stocks in this week’s article include: United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI) , Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) , The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. (NYSE:GBX) , MetLife Inc. (NYSE:MET) and SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (NYSE:SKM) .

Screen of the Week of Zacks Investment Research:

Low Price-to-Sales Stock Picks for a Healthy Portfolio

A stock’s Price-to-Sales ratio reflects how much investors are paying for each dollar of revenues generated by the company.

If the Price-to-Sales ratio is 1, it means that investors are paying $1 for every $1 of revenues generated by the company. So, it goes without saying that a stock with Price-to-Sales below 1 is a good bargain, as investors need to pay less than a dollar for a dollar’s worth.

Thus, a stock with a lower Price-to-Sales ratio is more suitable for investment versus a stock with a high Price-to-Sales ratio.

Though Price-to-Earnings is the first thing to cross one’s mind while using valuation metrics, Price-to-Sales has emerged as a convenient tool to determine the value of stocks that are incurring losses or are in an early cycle of development, generating meager or no profits.

While a loss-making company with a negative Price-to-Earnings ratio falls out of investor favor, its Price-to-Sales could indicate the hidden strength of its business. This underrated ratio is also used to identify a recovery situation or ensure that a company's growth is not overvalued.

Price-to-Sales is often preferred over Price-to-Earnings as companies can manipulate their earnings using various accounting measures. However, sales are harder to manipulate and are relatively reliable.

However, one should keep in mind that a company with high debt and low Price-to-Sales is not an ideal choice. The high debt level will have to be paid off at some point, leading to further share issuance and a rise in market cap and ultimately a higher Price-to-Sales ratio.

In any case, the Price-to-Sales ratio used in isolation can’t do the trick. One should also analyze other ratios like Price/Earnings, Price/Book and Debt/Equity before arriving at any investment decision.

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/284686/7-low-pricetosales-stock-picks-for-a-healthy-portfolio

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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.

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