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 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.

United Fire Group (UFCS) is a stock many investors are watching right now. UFCS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 11.93, which compares to its industry's average of 31.11. Over the last 12 months, UFCS's Forward P/E has been as high as 20.43 and as low as 10.38, with a median of 14.78.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is UFCS's P/B ratio of 0.96. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 1.66. Within the past 52 weeks, UFCS's P/B has been as high as 1.02 and as low as 0.62, with a median of 0.77.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. UFCS has a P/S ratio of 0.59. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.3.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in United Fire Group's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that UFCS is an impressive value stock right now.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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