Should Value Investors Buy Banco Macro (BMA) Stock?

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 use tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.

One company value investors might notice is Banco Macro (BMA). BMA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is BMA's P/B ratio of 0.74. 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. BMA's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.38. Within the past 52 weeks, BMA's P/B has been as high as 3.58 and as low as 0.51, with a median of 1.15.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. BMA has a P/S ratio of 0.47. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.96.

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

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