Lufkin Industries Inc.  (LUFK) Trade Now »     Rate LUFK  -  Discuss LUFK  -  Add to Watch List        

Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Gulf Islands Fabrication Inc. (GIFI), at Friday's closing price of 18.06, is a value play in the oil and gas equipment and services industry. The initial attraction is a combination of low P/B (1.0) and low Price/5 Year Average Earnings (11.5). The company has numerous strengths, which over time should allow it to overcome current weakness in revenue and backlog and participate strongly in the growth area of deep water equipment.

"Stocks, by just about every valuation measure, are undervalued," says John Reese, who continues to recommend putting money to work in undervalued stocks.

In his Validea newsletter, he selects "undervalued" issues by using screens based on the investment strategies of leading investors such as Peter Lynch, Ben Graham and Warren Buffett. Here's a look at four current buys in the oil sector.

"If you think you can predict investors' emotional states, or how an unprecedented economic crisis will play out, then go ahead and wait for the bottom. I suffer no such delusions, however.

Oil and gas equipment maker Lufkin Industries (LUFK), trading in the area of a 52 week low, is interesting as a value play in the energy sector. With a 52 week range of 31.45 to 95.23, there is the hope which springs eternal that it will go back up to where it was not that long ago.

I have followed the stock for almost a year, and I decided to take another look at it when it came up in a couple of screens published here on Seeking Alpha by Marc Gerstein. First, a look at the four metrics (click to enlarge):