When the Nifty hovers round 26,000 and the Sensex sits close to 85,000, traders naturally surprise: Is there any juice left out there? The reply is an unequivocal sure. Costly markets will not be uniformly costly. Even close to document highs, pockets of worth quietly exist for traders who’re keen to look previous the noise and select persistence as their technique.Worth investing will not be about chasing the newest momentum darling. It’s about recognizing basically sound companies that the market has quickly ignored or punished. It requires temperament, not trend-following. Consider it as gardening: you plant when sentiment is dry, nurture your picks, and look ahead to the cycle to show.Historical past is stuffed with reminders that worth emerges when others are distracted. Midcap and small-cap shares had surged to costly valuations in October 2024, earlier than revenue taking introduced them right down to saner ranges by the top of the yr. Then a warning from Sankaran Naren, CIO of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, triggered an alarm within the markets.By March 2025, the BSE Midcap had slipped beneath 39,000 and the BSE Small Cap beneath 43000. Inside these aggregates had been dozens of firms that had been pretty priced and never overvalued. However simply as a rising tide lifts all boats, a surging tsunami destroys every part it touches. Even good shares had been overwhelmed down, even because the broader indices fell 25% from their October 2024 peak.That was an exquisite alternative for worth traders. As Nathan Rothschild’s as soon as stated, “Purchase when there’s blood within the streets.” Traders who stepped in throughout that bloodbath have pocketed wealthy rewards. Each the BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap have shot up 20% since their March lows.Worth traders usually function in two environments. There are absolute worth phases, when there are sudden, fear-driven wipeouts. As an example, in March 2020, the Covid shock despatched markets tumbling. At instances like that, valuations detach from fundamentals, and high quality shares get thrown out with the junk. These moments don’t come typically, however they’re the closest factor to a bumper low cost sale for a price investor.Then there are relative worth intervals, when the markets transfer sideways. Although the indices are secure, a number of shares stay caught within the doldrums. These are ideally suited searching grounds. The problem is to seek out firms priced nicely beneath their intrinsic value. These are companies whose long-term incomes energy is greater than what present costs indicate.Valuation ratios like price-to-earnings (PE) and price-to-book (PBV) are good beginning factors however not all the time one of the best ways to evaluate a inventory. A inventory could seem low cost just because its development engine is stalling. Earnings alone will not be necessary. What’s extra necessary is the standard of the earnings.Firms typically present inflated income attributable to a one-off asset sale, divestment or windfall beneficial properties. That reinforces the EPS however not the enterprise. Sustainable worth comes solely from operations, not accounting fireworks. All the time test whether or not working margins are strong and constant.Margin of security is the cornerstone of worth investing. It’s the hole between a inventory’s intrinsic worth and its market value. The broader this hole, the decrease your draw back threat and the upper your likelihood of outsized returns.For instance, if an organization’s truthful worth is Rs 400 however trades at Rs 350, you have already got a 12.5% buffer. If it corrects additional to Rs 320, your margin of security expands to twenty%. For long-term traders, such declines are much less of a risk and extra of a possibility. Market pessimism is commonly the low cost coupon for future wealth creation.Bull markets distort notion. When frothy shares commerce at triple-digit PEs, even a PE of 35 can appear to be a discount as compared. However relativity is a lure. Overvaluation is overvaluation, no matter what your peer group seems to be like. By no means purchase an costly inventory just because one other one is much more overpriced.To separate true worth from low-quality cheapness, traders should dig deeper into profitability metrics. Return on Fairness (RoE) helps measure how effectively an organization makes use of shareholder capital. Return on Capital Employed (RoCE) assesses total capital productiveness, particularly essential in capital-heavy industries like infrastructure, engineering, or manufacturing. A constant RoE or RoCE above 10% alerts that administration is deploying capital correctly. In worth investing, good companies matter as a lot nearly as good costs.Dividend payout is commonly neglected however invaluable. Firms that share income often display monetary self-discipline and cash-flow energy. An honest dividend yield not solely cushions returns throughout risky intervals but in addition discourages sharp value declines. ITC is a textbook instance—its regular payouts have anchored its inventory value by means of a number of market storms. Dividend-paying firms usually have mature enterprise fashions, predictable earnings, and conservative capital allocation. These are traits a price investor ought to love.Worth investing is a component maths, half mindset. The maths helps you estimate truthful worth; the mindset helps you keep calm whereas the market decides what it needs to stress over subsequent. At 26,000 Nifty or 85,000 Sensex, the self-discipline stays the identical: purchase companies you perceive, insist on a margin of security, demand high quality earnings, and provides time the respect it deserves. Persistence, not predictions, is what turns worth investing into wealth constructing.