2 cheap FTSE 250 shares! Should investors buy these much-loved stocks?

I am looking for the best FTSE 250 stock price to buy. And I’m looking for more than just earnings multiples and other popular metrics to find. Many are cheap London Stock Exchange stocks are a classic investment trap.

Analyst George Sweeney of investment app Freetrade summed up the danger perfectly. He notes that “sometimes you get what you pay for. Cheap UK stocks are not necessarily good, and good UK stocks are not necessarily cheap.”

The following FTSE 250 stocks are among the 10 most popular stocks with investors using the Freetrade platform. Each has a price-to-earnings (P/E) and price-to-book (P/B) ratio.

But should I buy it for my portfolio today?

Direct Line Insurance Group

Freetrade analysts say that Direct Line Insurance Group (LSE:DLG)best known for some brands like Privilege, Green Flag, and Churchill (remember the bulldog nod?)“And he added”Today, the P/B ratio is 1.1 and the P/E ratio is 10.4 times (plus a high dividend yield) which also has some investors staring..”

Sweeney is right to highlight the company’s popular brand line. They command incredible customer loyalty, thanks to their high satisfaction scores. The Direct Line brand tops the customer satisfaction table of price comparison site Finder in 2021.

However, as a potential investor, I am very concerned about high cost inflation and what it means for the company’s profitability. Direct Line is trying to pass on higher costs to its customers with higher premiums. But this has an impact as the adjusted gross premium reverses by 3.5% between January and September.

The business also took the drastic step of cutting dividends earlier this week, due to a rise in motor claims inflation and a rise in claims rates in December.

Some economists expect inflationary pressures to remain elevated in the UK for some time. So I avoid insurance companies as much as I can now.

Marks & Spencer Group

Sweeney said that the retailer is 139 years old Marks & Spencer (LSE: MKS) “fits the UK Value Savings Bill quite well.” He notes that FTSE 250 companies have “A solid brand name with a decent size market-cap“and look”relatively cheap“compared to FTSE 100‘s other major grocers

M&S trades at a forward P/E ratio of 7.7 times. This is cheaper than Tesco‘s matches 18.3 times and J Sainsbury‘s reading of 9.1 times, analysts note. Marks and Spencer also has a P/B ratio of just 0.8.

I think retailers can do more strongly than their competitors in the short to medium term. The regular customer base tends to be more affluent, which means that demand for goods can remain stable even in the face of a cost-of-living crisis.

But I’m not tempted to invest in M&S shares today. It still has major work to increase the appeal of the brand with young fashion consumers. And it also faces major competition in the wholesale category as other supermarkets invest heavily in premium ranges.

I think there are better cheap stocks for me to choose.