Graham Discounts: LIC Housing & J&K Bank at Deep Value

Graham Number Signals Deep Discount in LIC Housing and J&K Bank The Graham Number is a blunt instrument, and that's precisely what makes it useful. Developed by Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, it combines earnings per share and book value per share into a single ceiling price. If a stock trades well below that ceiling, the arithmetic is telling you something. Right now, it's telling you something loud about [LIC Housing Finance](/stock/LICHSGFIN) and [J&K Bank](/stock/J&KBANK). [LIC Housing Finance](/stock/LICHSGFIN) (NSE: LICHSGFIN) trades at ₹500 against a Graham Number of ₹1,217.57, a 55.8% margin of safety. Its P/E sits at just 4.79, meaning the market is paying less than five rupees for every rupee of annual earnings. [J&K Bank](/stock/J&KBANK) (NSE: J&KBANK) trades at ₹155.48 against a Graham Number of ₹245.20, a 50.5% discount, with a P/E of 7.44. Both stocks carry a FairStock Score of 72 on FairStock.ai's proprietary model, which screens for quality alongside valuation. A score above 70 typically signals that the discount isn't just cheap — it's cheap with real fundamental backing. These aren't obscure micro-caps hiding in illiquid corners of the market. LIC Housing Finance is one of India's largest housing finance companies by loan book. J&K Bank is a scheduled commercial bank with a balance sheet exceeding ₹1.3 lakh crore. The fact that both are sitting this far below their Graham Numbers warrants serious attention. Why the Market Is Pricing These Names So Conservatively The low multiples aren't random. LIC Housing Finance operates in a sector under pressure from rising cost of funds, tightening NIM spreads, and competitive intensity from larger banks moving into retail mortgage lending. Its parent, Life Insurance Corporation of India, provides institutional credibility, but that hasn't translated into a valuation premium. The market appears to be discounting slower loan growth and margin compression. Those concerns are real, but they ...