Should Value Investors Buy American Equity Investment (AEL) Stock?

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 rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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 to watch right now is American Equity Investment (AEL). AEL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 4.63. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.19. Over the past year, AEL's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.10 and as low as 2.34, with a median of 6.15.

Investors should also recognize that AEL has a P/B ratio of 0.60. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against 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 1.79. Over the past year, AEL's P/B has been as high as 0.95 and as low as 0.23, with a median of 0.58.

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

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