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.

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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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 Santander (SAN). SAN is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 7.68, while its industry has an average P/E of 9.83. Over the past 52 weeks, SAN's Forward P/E has been as high as 7.93 and as low as 4.97, with a median of 5.65.

Another notable valuation metric for SAN is its P/B ratio of 0.94. 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 company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.94. Over the past year, SAN's P/B has been as high as 0.97 and as low as 0.61, with a median of 0.68.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. SAN has a P/S ratio of 1.2. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.37.

Finally, investors should note that SAN has a P/CF ratio of 6.63. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. SAN's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 16.67. Within the past 12 months, SAN's P/CF has been as high as 6.84 and as low as 4.27, with a median of 4.88.

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

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Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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