Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 4 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Professional Services 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 Professional Services 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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4 Undervalued Professional Services Stocks

Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 4 undervalued stocks in the Professional Services industry for Friday, October 04, 2024. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Professional Services 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.

Earlyworks Co., Ltd’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Earlyworks Co., Ltd operates as a blockchain-based technology company in Japan. The company builds products, deliver services, and develop solutions based on its proprietary Grid Ledger System to utilize blockchain technology in various business settings, including advertisement tracking, online visitor management, and sales of non-fungible tokens (NFT). It also offers software and system development; and consulting and solution services. In addition, the company develops NFT trading platforms and sells NFTs. The company serves the information technology, metaverse, advertisement, real estate, telecommunication, and entertainment industries. Earlyworks Co., Ltd was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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.

Earlyworks Co., Ltd has a Value Score of 100, which is considered to be undervalued.

When you look at Earlyworks Co., Ltd’s price-to-sales ratio at 0.04 compared to the industry median at 1.38, this company has a lower price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make Earlyworks Co., Ltd’s stock more attractive for value investors.

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. Earlyworks Co., Ltd’s shareholder yield is higher than its industry median ratio of 0.50%. 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. Earlyworks Co., Ltd’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 3.13. This could make Earlyworks Co., Ltd more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

Sunrise New Energy Co., Ltd.’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Sunrise New Energy Co., Ltd. engages in the manufacture and sale of graphite anode material for EVs and other lithium-ion batteries. The company also operates a peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and enterprise service platform business. In addition, it offers education consulting, training, tailored, information technology, business incubation, enterprise information technology integration, health, and agricultural technology services, as well as cultural and artistic exchanges and planning, and conference services. The company was formerly known as Global Internet of People, Inc. Sunrise New Energy Co., Ltd. was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Zibo, the People’s Republic of China.

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.

Sunrise New Energy Co., Ltd. has a Value Score of 72, which is considered to be undervalued.

Sunrise New Energy Co., Ltd.’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Sunrise New Energy Co., Ltd. less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 3.13.

You can read more about Sunrise New Energy Co., Ltd.’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.

Kelly Services, Inc.’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Kelly Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides workforce solutions to various industries. The company operates through five segments: Professional & Industrial; Science, Engineering & Technology; Education; Outsourcing & Consulting; and International. The Professional & Industrial segment delivers staffing, outcome-based, and permanent placement services providing administrative, accounting, and finance; light industrial; contact center staffing; and other workforce solutions. The Science, Engineering & Technology segment offers staffing, outcome-based, and permanent placement services in the areas of science and clinical research, engineering, technology, and telecommunications specialties. The Education segment provides staffing, permanent placement, and executive search services to pre-K-12 school districts and education organizations. The Outsourcing & Consulting segment offers managed service provider, recruitment process outsourcing, payroll process outsourcing, and executive coaching programs to customers on a global basis that includes its RocketPower brand. The International segment provides staffing, recruitment process outsourcing, and permanent placement services. The company serves customers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Russia, Italy, rest of Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. Kelly Services, Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Troy, Michigan.

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.

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

Kelly Services, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 15.9 compared to the industry median at 29.7. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Kelly Services, Inc. more attractive for value investors.

Kelly Services, Inc.’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Kelly Services, Inc. less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 3.13.

You can read more about Kelly Services, 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.

ManpowerGroup Inc.’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

ManpowerGroup Inc. provides workforce solutions and services worldwide. The company offers recruitment services, including permanent, temporary, and contract recruitment of professionals, as well as administrative and industrial positions under the Manpower and Experis brands. It also offers various assessment services; training and development services; career and talent management; and outsourcing services related to human resources functions primarily in the areas of large-scale recruiting and workforce-intensive initiatives. In addition, the company provides workforce consulting services; contingent staffing and permanent recruitment services; professional resourcing and project-based services; and recruitment process outsourcing, TAPFIN managed, and talent solutions. The company was incorporated in 1948 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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.

ManpowerGroup Inc. has a Value Score of 61, which is considered to be undervalued.

ManpowerGroup Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 75.8 compared to the industry median at 29.7. This means that it has a higher price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes ManpowerGroup Inc. less attractive for value investors.

ManpowerGroup Inc.’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make ManpowerGroup Inc. less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 3.13.

You can read more about ManpowerGroup 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 Professional Services 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 Professional Services stocks as well as other industrys.

Choosing Which of the 4 Best Professional Services 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.

• Earlyworks Co., Ltd stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Sunrise New Energy Co., Ltd. stock has a Value Grade of B.
• Kelly Services, Inc. stock has a Value Grade of A.
• ManpowerGroup Inc. stock has a Value Grade of B.

Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 4 undervalued stocks in the Professional Services 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 Professional Services Stocks

Want to learn more about Professional Services 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.

• 4 Undervalued Professional Services Stocks for Friday, October 04
• 3 Undervalued Professional Services Stocks for Thursday, October 03
• 3 Undervalued Employment Services Stocks for Tuesday, October 01
• Fall Changes Bring Satellites and Salons

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.