“This is the biggest surge of value stocks relative to growth stocks that we’ve had in four years… This one looks real,” according to Jeremy Siegel, professor emeritus of finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, during an interview with CNBC on February 17. Jeremy attributed this rotation into value stocks to three speed bumps that are scaring investors away from higher-risk growth stocks.
First was Trump’s pick for the next US Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, whom Jeremy described as a “good choice.” The second speedbump was the government budget showdown, which Jeremy described as “half solved” but will likely resurface again in a month.
The third speedbump was Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which were struck down by the US Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts on February 20. Despite this decision, markets are worried that the lack of clarity on some key questions creates a significant overhang for the markets.
One of these key questions is about the eligibility for tariff refunds. Another is whether Trump would simply impose new tariffs under a different legal authority than the one struck down. Finally, some market players are concerned about the decision’s effect on the government deficit.
With two out of the three speedbumps still on the road, it looks like value stocks will remain preferred by the market. With this in mind, let us take a look at 13 deep value stocks to buy right now.
Our Methodology
We screened US stocks with at least $2 billion in market capitalization, a median share price upside potential of more than 5%, and a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 3x to 10x. From this pool, we further narrowed to stocks with a 5-year return on equity of at least 10% and a dividend yield of at least 1%. We then filtered the list to only contain stocks with at least 15 hedge fund holders, according to Insider Monkey’s proprietary hedge fund database, which tracks 978 hedge funds as of Q3 2025.
Finally, we selected the 14 stocks with the most hedge fund holders. When two or more stocks were tied among hedge fund holders, we used the median analyst-provided projected upside as the tiebreaker. We limited our final selection to companies that have recently reported noteworthy developments likely to impact investor sentiment.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
Note: All data presented are as of 24 February 2026, market close.
13. Sonic Automotive Inc. (NYSE:SAH)
Sonic Automotive Inc. (NYSE:SAH) is one of the 13 Deep Value Stocks to Buy Right Now.
Barclays, on February 23, slightly trimmed its target price on Sonic Automotive by 2.9% to $67 (from $69) and retained the firm’s Equal Weight call on the stock. This target price cut was triggered by management’s cautious outlook on 2026 vehicle demand, prompting Barclays to reduce its forecasts.
Sonic released its Q4 2025 earnings on February 18, which showed solid results for the quarter. The company posted adjusted EPS of $1.52, narrowly beating the street consensus of $1.50 despite slightly missing the revenue consensus.
While the company had a decent quarter (and a good year in general), management during the Q&A portion of the analyst briefing cautioned about rising vehicle prices, which could dampen consumer demand in 2026. Here’s what Frank Dyke, Sonic’s Vice President of Retail Strategy, had to say:
“But I think that everybody needs to keep a real close eye out on the inflationary effects and what’s going to happen with new car pricing as we move into the early parts of the summer, late spring here and these — our manufacturer partners start moving that cost on to the consumer in a more — in a way that we did not see in 2025 … I am cautioning and concerned about what is going to happen, how far, how much elasticity can we deal with or can the consumer deal with from a new car perspective. And something is going to have to give here. The prices are getting — are just getting too high.”
Sonic Automotive Inc. (NYSE:SAH) is an automotive retailer, selling both new and used cars and providing maintenance, warranty, paint, and repair services. The company is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was founded in January 1997 by Ollen Bruton Smith and Bryan Scott Smith.
12. Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)
Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) is one of the 13 Deep Value Stocks to Buy Right Now.
Bank of America, on February 17, slightly increased its target price on Essent Group by 3.0% to $68 (from $66) and reiterated its Buy recommendation on the stock. The target price update comes after the firm adjusted its FY26 and FY27 earnings per share forecasts, following the release of Essent’s Q4 results, which fell slightly below the firm’s own forecasts. The firm, however, emphasized that it did not view the miss as “thesis changing.”
Essent released its Q4 2025 earnings on February 13, which showed the company posting $1.60 in diluted earnings per share and $312.40 million in net revenue, both figures slightly missing BofA and street consensus estimates.
Despite this miss, the company’s overall strategy (which it calls the “Buy, Manage, & Distribute Operating Model”) looks to be intact. The company’s total insurance in force grew YoY. The gross premium rate it earns on insurance was stable. Essent was also able to manage its risk by transferring some of its credit risk to high-quality reinsurers (albeit at a slightly higher cost vs. last year).
The company, in Q4 2025, wrote $11.8 billion in new insurance policies at an average base premium earned of 41 basis points ($4.1 in annual premium for every $1,000 insured). Most importantly, operating cash flows remained healthy, allowing Essent to increase its quarterly dividend rate to $0.35 per common share.
Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) is a holding company that offers private mortgage insurance, reinsurance, and title insurance and settlement services through its subsidiaries: Essent Guaranty, Inc., Essent Reinsurance Ltd., and Essent Title Insurance, Inc. The company is based in Hamilton, Bermuda, and was founded in July 2008 by Mark Casale.
