Are Investors Undervaluing These Finance Stocks Right Now?

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.

Of these, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

One company value investors might notice is Intercorp Financial Services (IFS). IFS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 8.15 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 11.90. IFS's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.53 and as low as 5.06, with a median of 7.29, all within the past year.

Investors should also recognize that IFS has a P/B ratio of 1.47. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 4.40. Over the past 12 months, IFS's P/B has been as high as 1.57 and as low as 0.84, with a median of 1.20.

Oportun Financial (OPRT) may be another strong Financial - Miscellaneous Services stock to add to your shortlist. OPRT is a # 2 (Buy) stock with a Value grade of A.

Oportun Financial sports a P/B ratio of 8.94 as well; this compares to its industry's price-to-book ratio of 4.40. In the past 52 weeks, OPRT's P/B has been as high as 20.71, as low as 1.13, with a median of 8.50.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Intercorp Financial Services and Oportun Financial are likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, IFS and OPRT sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.

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Intercorp Financial Services Inc. (IFS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Oportun Financial Corporation (OPRT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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