With the following in A1:A8 (cell contents, i.e., .Formula properties
rather than .Text properties),

0
0.79
1.79
79
79.01
179
1079
1079.79

I run Edit Find, I enter

79

as 'Find what', I change 'Look in' to Values, ***AND*** I check 'Match
entire cell contents', then I click Find All, and Excel shows the *ONLY*
match as cell A4, the only one that contains just 79.

If I type in the values you listed above (so they are numbers, not text) and
format the cells as the OP said (2 decimal places, comma separator, red
parentheses for negative values); then if I start Edit/Find and enter 79 (or
any variation of it) in 'Find what', change 'Look in' to Values and check
'Match entire cell contents', and click Find All... Excel displays a dialog
box saying "Microsoft Office Excel cannot find the data you're searching
for."... Do you see something different?

Rick