Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

One company to watch right now is Sonoco (SON). SON is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 7.54 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 14.36. Over the past 52 weeks, SON's Forward P/E has been as high as 11.34 and as low as 7.33, with a median of 9.87.

Investors should also note that SON holds a PEG ratio of 0.76. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. SON's industry has an average PEG of 1.94 right now. Over the last 12 months, SON's PEG has been as high as 2.27 and as low as 0.71, with a median of 2.03.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. SON has a P/S ratio of 0.7. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.91.

Finally, we should also recognize that SON has a P/CF ratio of 7.26. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 23.82. SON's P/CF has been as high as 8.38 and as low as 6.61, with a median of 7.50, all within the past year.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Sonoco's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that SON is an impressive value stock right now.

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