Zacks' High Rank Value strategy highlights: American Electric Power Co., Diana Shipping, EMC Insurance Group and OMI Corp.

CHICAGO -- Many value investors look for stocks trading at Price/Earnings multiples below 15 and Price/Book multiples below 3. Combining these valuation measures with a Zacks Rank of #1 ("Strong Buy") or #2 ("Buy") helps to ensure that a stock is truly undervalued. The High Rank Value Profit Track strategy finds such bargains - bargains that generated returns of 1.4% in the first five months of 2006. Four stocks meeting this strategy's exclusive criteria are American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP), Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX), EMC Insurance Group Inc. (Nasdaq: EMCI) and OMI Corp. (NYSE: OMM). View the entire list of stocks for the High Rank Value Profit Track at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2136.

Here are details about four companies currently identified by the High Rank Value Profit Track:

American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) recently released financial results for the third quarter. Ongoing earnings, excluding special items, were 99 cents per share, compared with 95 cents for the year-prior quarter. The result also matched analysts' forecasts. AEP offers a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 14.49 and a price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 1.73.

Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX), a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) company, will announce financial results for the third quarter on November 7, 2006. The company's price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple is 11.59 and its price-to-book (P/B) multiple is 2.16. In early August, DSX reported second-quarter earnings of 28 cents per share, prior to a preferential deemed dividend. The result was ahead of the consensus estimate by a penny. Diana Shipping also increased its dividend to $0.355 per share, based on its results from operations during the quarter.

EMC Insurance Group Inc. (Nasdaq: EMCI), another Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) name, recently posted third-quarter earnings of 85 cents per share, which matched the consensus estimate. The company noted that it was another record-breaking quarter, adding that it has a solid book of business and it continues to benefit from favorable development on prior years' reserves. EMCI has a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 8.22 and a price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 1.51.

OMI Corp. (NYSE: OMM) is also a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) company. OMM satisfies the criteria for this Profit Track with a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 7.04 and a price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 1.83. The company recently reported third-quarter earnings of 74 cents per share, exceeding the consensus estimate by nearly 6% and outperforming the year-ago result. OMM mentioned that net income and earnings per share for the third quarter were a record.

Discover all the current stocks currently on the High Rank Value Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2137 .

About Profit Tracks

What is a "Profit Track"? Each Profit Track is a successful stock picking strategy with proven results through the Bear Market of 2001-2002 and the Bull run started in 2003. On Zacks.com we have created these nine unique screens to offer investors great strategies to potentially outperform the market in the years ahead. For the first five months of 2006, the Low Price Stocks strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +22.2% followed by the Discounted Fundamental screen with a +18.6% return. To see all nine strategies along with philosophy, past performance and current stocks, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=1838

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