5 Value Stocks To Watch In The Financial Services Sector

What are Value Stocks?

A value stock is traditionally defined in terms of how investors in the marketplace are valuing that company's future growth prospects. Low P/E multiples are good base indicators that the company is undervalued and can most likely be labelled as a value stock.

Benzinga Insights has compiled a list of value stocks in the financial services sector that may be worth watching:

1. Encore Capital Gr ECPG - P/E: 5.83
2. Stellus Cap Investment SCM - P/E: 6.43
3. Salisbury Bancorp SAL - P/E: 9.39
4. Sandy Spring Bancorp SASR - P/E: 9.24
5. First Financial THFF - P/E: 9.72

This quarter, Encore Capital Gr experienced a decrease in earnings per share, which was 3.31 in Q2 and is now 2.66. Encore Capital Gr does not have a dividend yield, which investors should be aware of when considering holding onto such a stock.

Stellus Cap Investment's earnings per share for Q3 sits at 0.31, whereas in Q2, they were at 0.28. Its most recent dividend yield is at 1.72%, which has ('', 'not changed') by 0.0% from 1.72% in the previous quarter.

Salisbury Bancorp has reported Q3 earnings per share at 1.2, which has decreased by 21.05% compared to Q2, which was 1.52. Most recently, the company reported a dividend yield of 2.38%, which has decreased by 0.19% from last quarter's yield of 2.57%.

Sandy Spring Bancorp has reported Q3 earnings per share at 1.1, which has decreased by 5.17% compared to Q2, which was 1.16. Most recently, the company reported a dividend yield of 2.76%, which has decreased by 0.31% from last quarter's yield of 3.07%.

First Financial has been featured as a value stock. First Financial's Q3 EPS sits at 1.24, which has not changed since last quarter (Q2). First Financial does not have a dividend yield, which investors should be aware of when considering holding onto such a stock.

The Significance: A value stock may need some time to rebound from its undervalued position. The risk of investing in a value stock is that this emergence may never materialize.