Is Brighthouse Financial (BHF) a Great Value Stock Right Now?

While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.

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.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

One company value investors might notice is Brighthouse Financial (BHF). BHF is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 4.09, which compares to its industry's average of 9.45. Over the past 52 weeks, BHF's Forward P/E has been as high as 8 and as low as 3.54, with a median of 4.10.

We also note that BHF holds a PEG ratio of 0.38. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. BHF's industry currently sports an average PEG of 0.91. Within the past year, BHF's PEG has been as high as 0.74 and as low as 0.30, with a median of 0.37.

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 popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. BHF has a P/S ratio of 0.44. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.72.

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

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