3 Value-Priced Stocks the Pros Love Right Now

Finding the best value stocks to buy in this market is a delicate balancing act.

On the one hand, you typically need to think beyond the flashiest names in the stock market—wild growth stories are rarely underappreciated by Wall Street investors. But you also need to think past "cheap stocks," too. For one, nominal price ($5 stocks, $1 stocks, penny stocks) isn't an indication of value. But even "cheap" by actual valuation metrics isn't helpful, either, if you're just buying a discounted name with little else to love.

Today, we'll look at three value-priced stocks that also have the green light from the research analysts who cover them.

Disclaimer: This article does not constitute individualized investment advice. Individual securities, funds, and/or other investments appear for your consideration and not as personalized investment recommendations. Act at your own discretion.

The Best Value Stocks to Buy Now

Today, I’ll look at some of the best value stocks to buy now as rated by consensus analyst ratings from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The consensus rating is the average of all known analyst ratings of the stock, boiled down to a numerical system where …

1-1.5 = Strong Buy
1.5-2.5 = Buy
2.5-3.5 = Hold
3.5-4.5 = Sell
4.5-5 = Strong Sell

In short: The lower the number, the better the overall consensus view on the stock. All stocks here are rated at least 2.0 or below, meaning at worst they’re solidly in the Buy camp, though most of the picks are considered Strong Buys as we enter 2026. And the stocks are listed in reverse order of their consensus rating (from worst to best).

All stocks also have forward P/Es that are below both the S&P 500 and their sectors, as well as PEGs below 1.0.

As iconic investor Warren Buffett once wrote, "In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine." The following seven stocks are good examples of value stocks with real weight.

Let's check out three of the best picks from our fuller article about the best value stocks to buy right now.

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Capital One Financial

• Sector: Financials
• Market capitalization: $125.1 billion
• Dividend yield: 1.6%
• Forward P/E: 9.9
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.61 (Buy)

Capital One Financial (COF)—the entity responsible for "What's in your wallet?" being etched into our collective consciences—is a financial hybrid whose operations include consumer banking, commercial banking, and credit cards.

How is COF a hybrid? Well, credit cards typically work in what's called the "four corners model." In this model, 1.) financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C) are responsible for a cardholder's account, while 2.) payment processors like Visa (V) or Mastercard (MA) are technological middlemen that help facilitate transactions between 3.) cardholders and 4.) merchants. Capital One is one of those financial institutions, and for many years, it had issued both Visa and Mastercard cards and been a part of the “four corners model.”

But that's not the only model. A handful of companies, American Express (AXP) chief among them, operate in a "three corners model" where one company is responsible for both financial accounts and the payment network. And in May 2025, Capital One officially joined that crowd with the closing of its purchase of three-corners operator Discover Financial.

Related: 8 Best High-Yield Dividend Stocks: The Pros' Picks

"The acquisition of Discover fundamentally changes Capital One’s positioning within the financial ecosystem," says Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, who rate COF at Outperform (equivalent of Buy). "Historically viewed primarily as a high-quality credit card lender with strong underwriting and marketing capabilities, COF is now evolving into a vertically integrated payments platform with ownership of a proprietary payments network—a scarce strategic asset possessed by only a handful of companies globally."

And this year, the company swallowed up Brex, a fintech company that provides corporate credit cards, business banking accounts, and spend management software. "At its core, the acquisition of Brex should allow Capital One to extend beyond its traditional strength as a consumer and commercial credit card issuer and move more decisively into a software-enabled payments ecosystem," KBW adds.

Following a roughly three-year bull run, COF has dropped into bear-market territory in 2026. Shares now trade at just 10 times earnings estimates and at a PEG of 0.8, implying it's underpriced compared to its growth prospects. Wall Street seems to agree, pitting 18 Buys against five Holds and no Sells. That puts it among the analysts' best value stocks to buy right now.

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United Airlines

• Sector: Industrials
• Market capitalization: $43.9 billion
• Dividend yield: N/A
• Forward P/E: 14.4
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.38 (Strong Buy)

United Airlines (UAL) is the largest airline in the world by revenue passenger miles, flying 175 million people to more than 350 destinations on six continents.

Airlines in general are strongly tethered to consumer demand and economic strength, both of which are extremely difficult to handicap under the current policy environment. Heading into this year, the airline industry in general was expected to benefit from (among other things) low supply growth as well as easy comparisons to 2025, when extreme macroeconomic volatility rocked the industry. So if the economy did pick up, and especially if the current administration did go through with any of its proposed stimulus measures, those could be considered additional tailwinds for airlines.

Related: Dividend Kings: The Full List of American Dividend Royalty

Further muddying the water was America's war with Iran, which has whipsawed the stock. UAL shares dropped into bear-market territory earlier this year but are now up 60% year-to-date amid the countries' ceasefire.

Here's what BofA Global Research analysts Andrew Didora and John Gellene (Buy) had to say about the scenario back in April:

"We are lowering our EPS estimates given jet fuel nearly doubled in March. This is no surprise given the current environment, and we see two scenarios emerging from the current situation: 1) fuel stays higher for longer which results in airlines with negative or low margins either shrinking meaningfully or considering alternatives or 2) a quicker than expected end to the conflict drives a robust earnings recovery. We assume the industry benefitting from the second scenario and airlines with good margins and strong balance sheets emerging stronger from the first scenario."

Things have certainly improved since then. "The current setup is favorable for the U.S. airlines sector," says UBS's Atul Maheswari, who rates United at Buy and calls it one of the firm's top picks in the space. "Jet fuel price has declined -30% over the past month while demand has continued to hold firm despite nearly around 20% increase in fares. At the same time, supply is tepid ... This "perfect" combo is likely to push [third-quarter] EPS guides well above current consensus, driving upward earnings revisions following the reporting season."

Currently, 24 analysts are positive on UAL, while only one calls it a Hold and one says it's a Sell. On the valuation front, UAL remains plenty cheap. The company trades for just 14 times earnings estimates and boasts a PEG around 0.9.

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Darling Ingredients

• Sector: Consumer staples
• Market capitalization: $8.5 billion
• Dividend yield: N/A
• Forward P/E: 10.4
• Consensus analyst rating: 1.25 (Strong Buy)

Darling Ingredients (DAR) is a global producer and seller of sustainable natural ingredients, which it creates from edible and inedible bio-nutrients. It operates in three segments: Food, Feed, and Fuel.

Readers with more sensitive stomachs might want to skip a paragraph.

The Food segment turns beef and pork bone chips, beef hides, and pig and fish skins into collagen; processes intestines into natural casings, refines animal fat into food-grade fat, and more. The Feed segment creates non-food-grade oils and protein meals, cookie meal used in poultry and swine food, even blood plasma powder and hemoglobin. And its fuels division turns organic sludge and food waste into biogas, converts certain animal byproducts into low-grade energy sources, and more.

Related: 7 Best Closed-End Funds (CEFs) Paying Us Up to 16%

BMO Capital Markets' Andrew Strelzik (Outperform) calls DAR "one of our favorite investment ideas." He said he believes the company is "in the early innings of capitalizing on inflection in fundamentals" following the company's recent better-than-expected quarterly earnings report. And after the company's Investor Day event, he said he "came away with greater confidence in DAR’s multi-year EBITDA and free cash flow trajectory."

Strelzik is one of 10 Buy calls on DAR shares, contested by one Hold and one Sell. Those ratings are driven by wild annual earnings-growth estimates of nearly 140% on average, as well as thin valuations for that growth: a forward P/E around 10 that's less than half the consumer staples sector, and a PEG just below 0.1.

That puts it among Wall Street's best value stocks, and a true, ahem, darling of the Wall Street analyst set.

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