Best Value Stocks to Buy Now and in September

The S&P 500 remains near all-time highs, but investors are bracing for near-term pivot points tied to Wednesday’s July PCE inflation print (Fed’s preferred gauge) and Nvidia’s Q2 results, where upbeat guidance is needed to help end NVDA’s slump. The article also highlights a Zacks value screen (P/E and P/S below industry median, EPS growth above median) with Avnet (AVT) as one of the seven names, citing FY26 revenue +25% and adjusted earnings +65%. AVT’s outlook has been marked by steep estimate revisions (FY27 consensus +43%, FY28 +56%) and the stock is described as trading at ~8.2x forward earnings after being ~56% below its highs.

Analysis

AVT is interesting less as a headline-growth name and more as a way to monetize the industrialization phase of AI. If the market is right that semiconductor demand is broadening beyond a few platform winners, distributors with exposure to interconnect, passives, and embedded content can see margin expansion from mix, not just top-line beta. That makes AVT a cleaner second-order beneficiary than the chipmakers themselves: it captures unit growth across the bill-of-materials without taking foundry or wafer-fab risk.

The catch is that distributors are also where optimism can become self-reinforcing and fragile. When estimates rise this fast, the stock can outrun the underlying inventory cycle; a single quarter of weaker bookings or a normalization in customer ordering can compress the multiple quickly because the market is paying for both cyclical growth and quality. The near-term catalyst stack is binary: PCE and NVDA can move the whole tech complex over days, but AVT’s real test is whether next quarter commentary confirms that demand is broad-based rather than just restocking.

From a competitive lens, AVT’s multiple expansion can pressure Arrow Electronics and other component distributors if investors conclude AVT has the better mix and operating leverage. Conversely, if end-demand slows, AVT likely de-rates faster than asset-light software or mega-cap AI names because the market will question whether growth is sustainable or just inventory timing. The consensus may be underestimating how much of the rerating is already priced in after the stock’s run, making the asymmetry better on pullbacks than at new highs.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Tactically avoid chasing AVT after strength; prefer entry on a 5-8% pullback or post-PCE/NVDA volatility reset. Risk/reward improves materially if the stock retraces toward prior breakout support rather than paying up near highs.
• Pair trade: long AVT / short ARW over the next 1-3 months. Thesis: if distribution mix and estimate revisions are the key driver, AVT should continue to outperform a broader peer that is more exposed to a normalization in low-margin product mix.
• Set an alert on AVT quarterly commentary around bookings and inventory turns. Falsifier: any sign of slowing order rates or rising channel inventory would imply the rerating is ahead of fundamentals.
• For tech beta exposure, prefer AVT over NVDA only as a relative-value hedge, not as a substitute growth leader. AVT is the better way to express broad electronics-demand strength, but it is more vulnerable to a demand air pocket than the megacap AI platform names.