Best Value Stocks: October 2026
MoatMap's Value factor combines the four most-tested measures of cheapness (earnings yield, EV/EBITDA, price-to-book, and shareholder yield) into a single percentile rank. The 25 stocks below score highest on Value globally. Read the Quality column carefully: the difference between a deep-value opportunity and a value trap is whether the cheapness is paired with a healthy business or a deteriorating one.
October 2026 edition · data as of ·How we score stocks·See all four pillars
Top 25 Value Stocks: October 2026
| # | Stock | Yield | P/E | Score | Q | V | M | Style · Activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Value 98: below book value and cheap on sales; EV/EBITDA excluded. Quality 40: low gross profitability. Momentum 14: estimates cut. | Yield 9.2% | P/E 4.2 | 58 Score | 40 Q | 98 V | 14 M | Bargain BinBuyback | |
| 2 | Value 97: below book value and cheap on P/E. Quality 53: interest well covered but a tight balance sheet. Momentum 45: quarterly earnings shrinking. | Yield 6.5% | P/E 5.2 | 93 Score | 53 Q | 97 V | 45 M | Unloved Quality | |
| 3 | Value 96: below book value and a high yield. Momentum 47: EPS improving but quarterly earnings shrinking. Quality 31: a tight balance sheet. | Yield 12.8% | P/E 9.8 | 79 Score | 31 Q | 96 V | 47 M | Bargain BinBuyback | |
| 4 | Value 96: below book value and a high yield. Momentum 63: broadly strong. Quality 55: strong free cash flow but low gross profitability. | Yield 8.9% | P/E 5.0 | 98 Score | 55 Q | 96 V | 63 M | Full House | |
| 5 | Value 96: cheap on sales and a high yield. Quality 50: high debt. Momentum 40: quarterly earnings shrinking. | Yield 9.2% | P/E 3.6 | 88 Score | 50 Q | 96 V | 40 M | Unloved Quality | |
| 6 | Value 95: a high yield and cheap on EV/EBITDA. Quality 63: wide operating margins and ROIC in the top 10% of its sector. Momentum 52: mixed. | Yield 9.7% | P/E 6.4 | 98 Score | 63 Q | 95 V | 52 M | Full House | |
| 7 | Value 95: cheap on P/E and a high yield. Quality 53: ROIC in the top 10% of its sector but high debt. Momentum 14: well off its 52-week high. | Yield 10.1% | P/E 3.8 | 69 Score | 53 Q | 95 V | 14 M | Unloved QualityDir. buy | |
| 8 | Value 95: cheap on P/E and cheap on sales. Quality 59: F-Score 8/9 but a tight balance sheet. Momentum 31: below its moving averages. | Yield 8.2% | P/E 2.7 | 87 Score | 59 Q | 95 V | 31 M | Unloved Quality | |
| 9 | Value 95: a high yield and cheap on P/E. Quality 75: strong free cash flow and high gross profitability. Momentum 11: below its moving averages. | Yield 31.8% | P/E 4.1 | 85 Score | 75 Q | 95 V | 11 M | Unloved Quality | |
| 10 | Value 95: cheap on EV/EBITDA and cheap on sales. Quality 54: a tight balance sheet. Momentum 43: quarterly earnings shrinking. | Yield 3.9% | P/E 9.2 | 92 Score | 54 Q | 95 V | 43 M | Unloved Quality | |
| 11 | Value 95: cheap on EV/EBITDA and cheap on P/E. Quality 63: strong free cash flow and a liquid balance sheet. Momentum 26: lagging the market over 6 months. | Yield 6.3% | P/E 5.4 | 87 Score | 63 Q | 95 V | 26 M | Unloved Quality | |
| 12 | Value 94: below book value and cheap on free cash flow. Quality 61: strong free cash flow and wide operating margins. Momentum 46: quarterly earnings shrinking. | Yield 6.7% | P/E 11.0 | 95 Score | 61 Q | 94 V | 46 M | Unloved Quality | |
| 13 | Value 94: cheap on sales and cheap on P/E; EV/EBITDA and P/FCF excluded. Quality 41: interest well covered but high debt. Momentum 37: lagging the market over 6 months. | Yield 2.7% | P/E 3.5 | 78 Score | 41 Q | 94 V | 37 M | Bargain Bin | |
| 14 | Value 94: cheap on sales and cheap on free cash flow. Momentum 45: quarterly earnings growing but estimates cut. Quality 43: strong free cash flow but high debt. | Yield 3.4% | P/E 5.4 | 86 Score | 43 Q | 94 V | 45 M | Bargain Bin | |
| 15 | Value 94: cheap on P/E and cheap on EV/EBITDA. Quality 64: a liquid balance sheet and low debt. Momentum 53: quarterly earnings growing but EPS deteriorating. | Yield 7.4% | P/E 3.4 | 98 Score | 64 Q | 94 V | 53 M | Full House | |
| 16 | Value 94: cheap on EV/EBITDA and cheap on free cash flow. Quality 55: ROIC in the top 20% of its sector. Momentum 27: quarterly earnings shrinking. | Yield 5.0% | P/E 8.8 | 80 Score | 55 Q | 94 V | 27 M | Unloved QualityBuyback | |
| 17 | Value 94: cheap on sales and cheap on P/E; P/FCF excluded. Momentum 90: above its moving averages and outperforming the market over 6 months. Quality 61: high return on equity and ROIC in the top 10% of its sector. | Yield 9.8% | P/E 4.6 | 100 Score | 61 Q | 94 V | 90 M | Full House | |
| 18 | Value 94: a high yield and cheap on EV/EBITDA. Quality 74: interest well covered and wide operating margins. Momentum 54: near its 52-week high but estimates cut. | Yield 17.5% | P/E 5.5 | 99 Score | 74 Q | 94 V | 54 M | Full House | |
| 19 | Value 94: cheap on free cash flow and cheap on sales. Momentum 60: estimates revised up and outperforming the market over 6 months. Quality 49: strong free cash flow but thin interest cover. | Yield 3.0% | P/E 5.4 | 96 Score | 49 Q | 94 V | 60 M | Second Wind | |
| 20 | Value 94: cheap on sales and below book value. Quality 53: F-Score 7/9 but a tight balance sheet. Momentum 35: estimates cut. | Yield 5.3% | P/E 5.6 | 85 Score | 53 Q | 94 V | 35 M | Unloved Quality | |
| 21 | Value 93: cheap on P/E and cheap on EV/EBITDA. Quality 66: F-Score 7/9 and strong free cash flow. Momentum 39: below its moving averages. | Yield 5.5% | P/E 6.0 | 94 Score | 66 Q | 93 V | 39 M | Unloved Quality | |
| 22 | Value 93: below book value and cheap on P/E. Momentum 66: near its 52-week high. Quality 53: wide operating margins but low gross profitability. | Yield 7.0% | P/E 4.7 | 98 Score | 53 Q | 93 V | 66 M | Full House | |
| 23 | Value 93: cheap on P/E and cheap on EV/EBITDA. Quality 82: strong free cash flow and F-Score 9/9. Momentum 17: lagging the market over 6 months. | Yield 7.2% | P/E 5.2 | 92 Score | 82 Q | 93 V | 17 M | Unloved Quality | |
| 24 | Value 93: valuation ratios not meaningful for a financial. Momentum 35: below its moving averages. Quality 31: a weak F-Score 2/7. | Yield 7.6% | P/E 2.9 | 65 Score | 31 Q | 93 V | 35 M | Bargain Bin | |
| 25 | Value 93: cheap on sales and below book value; EV/EBITDA excluded. Momentum 51: quarterly earnings growing but lagging the market over 6 months. Quality 37: high debt. | Yield 4.8% | P/E 5.3 | 85 Score | 37 Q | 93 V | 51 M | Second Wind |
Ranked by the Value factor across every market MoatMap scores, at a minimum market cap of $250M, one line per company. A new edition is generated on the first scoring run of each month.
Why Value Still Works in 2026
The Value premium has been the most-studied anomaly in finance since Fama and French formalised it in 1992. Cheap stocks, on average, outperform expensive stocks over long holding periods. The mechanism is mean reversion: prices over-extrapolate near-term news (good or bad), and the cheapest decile tends to mean-revert harder than the most expensive decile.
What changed in the 2010s: a long stretch of dominance by growth and quality factors made many investors declare Value 'dead'. The decade-long underperformance of cheap stocks vs. expensive stocks was real, but it was also the largest single drawdown in the Value factor's recorded history, which historically has preceded the strongest reversals. Since 2022, Value has outperformed Growth in every region we track. The premium isn't dead; it's normalising.
The danger with mechanical Value screens is the value trap: businesses that look cheap because they're permanently impaired (declining revenue, structurally low ROIC, balance-sheet stress). The MoatMap Value score is composite: it includes shareholder yield (buybacks + dividends), which filters out businesses that don't generate enough cash to return any to shareholders. But composite scores still pick up some traps. The cross-check that matters is Quality.
Best practice: look for stocks that score 80+ on both Value and Quality. The combination is rare; when it appears, it usually means the market has temporarily mispriced a fundamentally healthy business. That intersection is where the largest single-stock returns historically cluster.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the top-ranked Value stocks in 2026?
- The table above ranks the 25 cheapest stocks by MoatMap's composite Value score (P/E, EV/EBITDA, P/B, shareholder yield) across the global universe of 24,000+ stocks. Always cross-check the Quality column: a Value-only screen surfaces both deep-value opportunities and value traps in roughly equal measure. The ones that score 70+ on both Value and Quality are statistically the highest-conviction setups.
- What does MoatMap's Value score include?
- Value is a percentile composite of four measures. Earnings yield (inverse of P/E): the most-tested cheapness signal. EV/EBITDA: capital-structure-neutral (works for indebted businesses). Price-to-book: the original Fama-French Value measure, still works in financials and asset-heavy businesses. Shareholder yield: buybacks plus dividends as a percentage of market cap, filters out cash-burning businesses that look cheap on paper.
- How do I avoid value traps?
- Three filters: (1) Pair Value with Quality. A high-Value, low-Quality stock is a trap candidate. (2) Look at revenue trajectory. Cheap and declining is rarely a winner; cheap and stable usually mean-reverts. (3) Read the Momentum score. Deep-value stocks with negative momentum often have one more leg down before the re-rating. The strongest Value setups score high on Value, decent on Quality, and have Momentum that's stopped declining.
- Is P/E ratio the best way to find cheap stocks?
- P/E is the most popular cheapness measure but not the most robust. It breaks for cyclicals (earnings collapse mid-cycle make stocks look expensive at the bottom and cheap at the top), for high-leverage companies (P/E ignores debt), and for any company with non-recurring items in earnings. EV/EBITDA addresses the leverage problem; P/B handles cyclicals better. Composite Value scores combine all four to mute the failure modes of any single ratio.
- Value vs Growth: which works better in 2026?
- Both work over long periods, in different regimes. Value tends to outperform when interest rates are stable or rising and when the dispersion between cheap and expensive stocks is wide (it currently is). Growth outperforms when rates are falling and when a small number of mega-cap winners are taking market share (the 2015-2021 regime). MoatMap's Quality factor covers the 'profitable growth' angle separately, so a Value screen here doesn't mean ignoring growth entirely.
- Are international stocks cheaper than US stocks?
- Substantially, on every Value measure. Japan, Korea, Europe, and most emerging markets trade at ~half the P/E and ~half the P/B of the US S&P 500. MoatMap covers 35 markets, so the Value screen above will tend to be heavy in non-US names. This is correct, and historically the cheapest country indexes have outperformed the most expensive country indexes.
- How often does the Value ranking refresh?
- Daily. Value scores update as new financials are filed and as prices move. The page is cached for 1 hour at the edge.