5 Value Stocks In The Financial Services Sector

What is a Value Stock?

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.

The following stocks are considered to be notable value stocks in the financial services sector:

1. Comerica CMA - P/E: 5.4
2. Village Bank & Trust Finl VBFC - P/E: 7.9
3. Associated Banc ASB - P/E: 7.28
4. HSBC Holdings HSBC - P/E: 6.8
5. OptimumBank Hldgs OPHC - P/E: 4.34

This quarter, Comerica experienced a decrease in earnings per share, which was $2.39 in Q1 and is now $2.01. Most recently, the company reported a dividend yield of 5.48%, which has decreased by 1.18% from last quarter's yield of 6.66%.

Village Bank & Trust Finl saw a decrease in earnings per share from 1.46 in Q4 to $1.04 now. The company's most recent dividend yield sits at 1.19%, which has decreased by 0.05% from 1.24% last quarter.

Most recently, Associated Banc reported earnings per share at $0.56, whereas in Q1 earnings per share sat at $0.66. Most recently, the company reported a dividend yield of 4.61%, which has decreased by 0.16% from last quarter's yield of 4.77%.

This quarter, HSBC Holdings experienced a decrease in earnings per share, which was $2.6 in Q1 and is now $1.7. Its most recent dividend yield is at 0.96%, which has decreased by 4.62% from 5.58% in the previous quarter.

OptimumBank Hldgs has reported Q1 earnings per share at $0.16, which has decreased by 33.33% compared to Q4, which was 0.24.

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.