Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 5 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Software industry. Those looking for value stocks to add to their portfolio may want to use this list as a starting point for further investment research.

Why Focus on Undervalued Software Stocks?

Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

What Goes Into AAII’s Value Grade?

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.

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5 Undervalued Software Stocks

Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 5 undervalued stocks in the Software industry for Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Software industry median.

The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.

The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)

Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).

As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.

CareCloud Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

CareCloud, Inc. is a healthcare information technology company. The Company provides a suite of cloud-based solutions and related business services, to healthcare providers, from small practices to enterprise medical groups, hospitals, and health systems throughout the United States. Its segments include Healthcare IT and Medical Practice Management. Healthcare IT segment includes technology-assisted revenue cycle management, software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions and other services. Medical Practice Management segment includes the management of three medical practices. Its technology-enabled business solutions include revenue cycle management; Cloud-based software; Digital health; and Healthcare IT professional services & staffing. Its SaaS platforms include practice management (PM), electronic health record (EHR), patient experience management (PXM), and others. Its Revenue Cycle Management services including end-to-end medical billing, eligibility, analytics, and related services.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

CareCloud Inc has a Value Score of 89, which is considered to be undervalued.

When you look at CareCloud Inc’s price-to-sales ratio at 0.42 compared to the industry median at 3.80, this company has a lower price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make CareCloud Inc’s stock more attractive for value investors.

Now, let’s assess CareCloud Inc’s EV/EBITDA ratio, also known as enterprise multiple. At 2.0, when compared to the industry median of 25.5, the company may be considered undervalued in relation to its peers. Value investors could use the enterprise multiple to identify stocks that are considered overvalued or undervalued relative to their industry.

Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. CareCloud Inc’s shareholder yield is lower than its industry median ratio of (2.45%). Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.

As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. CareCloud Inc’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 3.23. This could make CareCloud Inc more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

Lastly, let’s take a look at CareCloud Inc’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio (P/FCF), which can indicate a company’s market value relative to its operating cash flow. CareCloud Inc’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 30.06. This could make CareCloud Inc more attractive because the lower P/FCF ratio indicates that CareCloud Inc is undervalued. The P/FCF ratio metric can also be viewed over a long-term time frame to see if the company's cash flow to share price value is generally improving or worsening.

Cerence Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Cerence Inc. is a provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered assistants for connected and autonomous vehicles. The Company is engaged in selling software licenses and cloud-connected services. Its software platform is used to build virtual assistants that can communicate, find information and take action across an expanding variety of categories. Its software platform has a hybrid architecture combining edge software components with cloud-connected components. Its Edge software components are installed on a vehicle’s head unit and can operate without access to external networks and information. Its Cloud-connected components are comprised of certain speech and natural language understanding related technologies, AI-enabled personalization and context-based response frameworks, and a content integration platform. It delivers its solutions on a white-label basis, enabling its customers to deliver customized virtual assistants with branded personalities.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Cerence Inc has a Value Score of 66, which is considered to be undervalued.

Cerence Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Cerence Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 3.23.

You can read more about Cerence Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Hello Group Inc (ADR)’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Hello Group Inc, formerly Momo Inc, is a China-based online social and entertainment company. The Company operates in three segments. Momo segment and Tantan segment mainly provide live video service, value-added services including membership subscription and virtual gift service, and mobile marketing services including advertising and marketing solutions. QOOL segment provides music service revenues, film distribution service and film promotion service. The Company also operates other applications to serve different social and entertainment demands from its users.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Hello Group Inc (ADR) has a Value Score of 97, which is considered to be undervalued.

Hello Group Inc (ADR)’s price-earnings ratio is 4.3 compared to the industry median at 47.2. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Hello Group Inc (ADR) more attractive for value investors.

Hello Group Inc (ADR)’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Hello Group Inc (ADR) less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 3.23.

You can read more about Hello Group Inc (ADR)’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Snail Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Snail, Inc. is a global independent developer and publisher of interactive digital entertainment for consumers around the world. It has built a premier portfolio of premium games designed for use on a variety of platforms, including consoles, personal computers (PCs), and mobile devices. The Company’s games include ARK: Survival Evolved, ARK: Survival Ascended, Bellwright, Last Oasis, Atlas, and PixARK. ARK: Survival Evolved is an action-adventure survival sandbox game set in an open-world environment with a dynamic day-night cycle. Bellwright is developed in connection with its wholly owned subsidiary, Donkey Crew, LLC (Donkey Crew), which is a survival game based in the medieval period. Last Oasis is developed in connection with its wholly owned subsidiary, Donkey Crew, which is a Nomadic Survival MMO with a focus on player versus player (PvP), clan warfare and social interactions. Atlas is developed in partnership with Grapeshot Games, which a pirate themed sandbox survival game.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Snail Inc has a Value Score of 79, which is considered to be undervalued.

Snail Inc’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make Snail Inc more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 3.23.

You can read more about Snail Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Zenvia Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Zenvia Inc is a Brazil-based company engaged in the technology sector. The Firm develops communications platform focused on customer experience (CX), dedicated to companies and their end-customers. The platform provides solutions for marketing campaigns, sales teams, customer service and engagement, enabling creation of surveys, sending bulk notifications, schedule management, automatic answers for frequently asked customer questions, collection of users’ data, enrollment for events, two-factor authentication and order tracking, among others. It also offers tools, such as software application programming interfaces (APIs), chatbots, documents composer and authentication. The Company’s solutions support several communications channels, such as short message service (SMS), rich communication services (RCS), Voice, WhatsApp and Webchat. Its products include Zencia Flow, Zencia Chat, Zencia Message and Sirena. The Firm operates in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Zenvia Inc has a Value Score of 91, which is considered to be undervalued.

Zenvia Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Zenvia Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 3.23.

You can read more about Zenvia Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Other Software Stock Grades

Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.

Also, if you want full access to all of AAII’s premium services, you can subscribe to one convenient bundled plan called AAII Platinum where you can try out A+ Investor, AAII Dividend Investing, the Stock Superstars Report, Growth Investing and VMQ Stocks. With the other premium services, you can dive deep into additional metrics, portfolios, commentary and information about Software stocks as well as other industrys.

Choosing Which of the 5 Best Software Stocks Is Right for You

Choosing which value stocks to invest in will ultimately depend on your individual goals and allocation; however, comparing similar value stocks in the same industry can help you analyze which might be better investments for you in the long run. So, let’s take a look at the Value Grade for all of our stocks.

• CareCloud Inc stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Cerence Inc stock has a Value Grade of B.
• Hello Group Inc (ADR) stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Snail Inc stock has a Value Grade of B.
• Zenvia Inc stock has a Value Grade of A.

Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 5 undervalued stocks in the Software industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.

We do so through a program of education that teaches you to invest for yourself and become an effective manager of your own wealth—no more relying on others for your financial independence. You can rely on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis that makes you a better investor.

A+ Investor adds to that qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

Additional Resources About Software Stocks

Want to learn more about Software stocks to see if they could be the right investment for you? Check out some additional resources and articles to help you on your financial journey.

• 5 Undervalued Software Stocks for Wednesday, May 22
• 7 Undervalued Software Stocks for Tuesday, May 21
• What You Need to Know About Full Truck Alliance Co Ltd - ADR's Q1 Earnings
• Why A10 Networks Inc’s (ATEN) Stock Is Down 8.02%

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.