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. Bank7 BSVN - P/E: 7.51
2. Southern First Bancshares SFST - P/E: 8.23
3. 360 DigiTech QFIN - P/E: 5.16
4. Premier Financial PFC - P/E: 7.05
5. S&T Bancorp STBA - P/E: 8.84

Bank7 has reported Q4 earnings per share at $0.91, which has increased by 4.6% compared to Q3, which was 0.87. Its most recent dividend yield is at 2.24%, which has decreased by 0.23% from 2.47% in the previous quarter.

Southern First Bancshares saw a decrease in earnings per share from 1.04 in Q3 to $0.68 now. This quarter, 360 DigiTech experienced a decrease in earnings per share, which was $0.91 in Q3 and is now $0.83. The company's most recent dividend yield sits at 3.27%, which has decreased by 1.12% from 4.39% last quarter.

Premier Financial has reported Q4 earnings per share at $0.71, which has decreased by 10.13% compared to Q3, which was 0.79. Most recently, the company reported a dividend yield of 4.51%, which has increased by 0.2% from last quarter's yield of 4.31%.

Most recently, S&T Bancorp reported earnings per share at $1.03, whereas in Q3 earnings per share sat at $0.95. The company's most recent dividend yield sits at 3.95%, which has increased by 0.05% from 3.9% last quarter.

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.