So I've been digging into this screening strategy that actually works pretty well if you're tired of watching growth stocks moon while value plays sit on the sidelines. The trick? Using the PEG ratio to find stocks that actually have both growth and value characteristics.

Basically, the PEG ratio is this metric that divides a company's P/E ratio by its growth rate. Benjamin Graham used it back in the day, and honestly it's still one of the cleanest ways to spot when something's actually cheap versus just looking expensive. If you see a PEG under 1.0, you're looking at a stock that has real growth baked in but isn't priced like it's the next unicorn.

I ran a screen looking specifically for low peg ratio stocks - filtering for anything under 1.0, combined with some other criteria like solid analyst ratings and Zacks Rank 1 or 2 picks. Came back with 17 candidates, but three really stood out to me.

First up is Skillsoft (SKIL). It's this smaller AI play with a market cap around $133 million - actually pretty rare to find an AI small cap these days. They're positioning themselves as an AI-native skills platform, launched their Percipio platform last year for workforce management. Now here's the thing - the stock got hammered, down over 36% year-to-date at the time I looked at this. But the earnings picture is interesting. They're expecting a 19.6% decline in fiscal 2026, then a 48% jump in 2027. The valuation is nuts though - forward P/E of just 4.4, which is basically dirt cheap territory. It's got that low peg ratio under 1.0 as well. Classic recovery play if execution happens.

Then there's Pinterest (PINS). Bigger fish at $21.7 billion market cap. They've been quietly crushing it with user growth - hit 578 million monthly active users, up from 522 million a year prior. AI's been helping their revenue numbers too. But here's what's wild - the stock barely moved this year, up just under 10% while the broader market was doing better. Meanwhile their earnings are expected to jump 33% in 2025 and another 22% the following year. The PEG ratio sits at 0.5, which is actually pretty attractive. Forward P/E of 18.4 is reasonable for that growth profile. This one feels like the market's sleeping on it.

Micron (MU) is the third one. Memory and storage company that absolutely benefited from the AI boom. Their fiscal 2025 earnings exploded 537% year-over-year, with revenue hitting a record $37.4 billion, up from $25.1 billion prior year. And it's not stopping - they're guiding for another 100% earnings jump in fiscal 2026. So yeah, the stock ran hard, up 128% in 2025. But even after that move, it's still trading at a forward P/E of 11.9, which qualifies as value territory. The PEG ratio is just 0.4. With data center demand still red-hot, this one's got low peg ratio characteristics even after its run.

The common thread here is that all three have low peg ratio valuations despite meaningful growth runways. Whether you're looking at a turnaround story, an undervalued growth play, or a beneficiary of secular trends, the PEG ratio filter actually helps you cut through the noise. It's one of those old-school metrics that still works because it forces you to think about whether you're actually getting value or just paying for a story.

If you want to dig deeper into how this screening actually works and what else matters with PEG ratios, there's more detail out there. But the simple takeaway is this - don't assume value investing means you have to miss out on growth. Sometimes the best opportunities are the ones where the market hasn't fully priced in the growth yet.