The last time value stocks were in style, Abraham Lincoln still had a Pennsylvania Avenue address.

OK, it hasn't been quite that long. Still, for years, even the best value stocks have taken a back seat to growth. The Wilshire US Large-Cap Growth Index, for instance, has produced a total return (price plus dividends) of 250.6% between the start of 2007 and May 11, 2020; over the same period, the Wilshire US Large-Cap Value Index managed just 106.7%.

Growth stocks appear to have gotten way ahead of themselves, which at least sets up the possibility that value stocks will return to favor. But there are no guarantees.

"Growth's outperformance will end when it finally crumbles under its own weight, as it finally did in 2000, but I have no idea if it happens next week or in five years," Pekin Hardy Strauss portfolio manager Josh Strauss recently told MarketWatch.

Market timing is a fool's errand, however. Instead, you can do well by simply targeting high-quality value stocks now ... which includes determining just what real "value" is. For instance, is a stock that trades at less than five times earnings a bargain if it's buried in debt? That seems doubtful, especially in this uncharted economic territory brought about by COVID-19.

Here are 10 of the best value stocks to buy right now. For the value component, we're using cash rather than profits, which can be skewed by various accounting adjustments. Also, in this time of uncertainty, it's important for portfolio picks to have healthy balance sheets. So each of these stocks boasts cash positions that are greater than their outstanding debt.

SVB Financial

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Bank stocks aren't having much luck during the) has plunged 43%, dipping harder than the S&P 500 into the bear market and coming off the mat much more slowly.