Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.
Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.
On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the “Value” category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and “A” grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.
One company to watch right now is Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NPNYY). NPNYY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and an A for Value.
Another valuation metric that we should highlight is NPNYY’s P/B ratio of 0.81. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock’s market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock’s P/B looks attractive against its industry’s average P/B of 2.40. Over the past 12 months, NPNYY’s P/B has been as high as 0.94 and as low as 0.70, with a median of 0.80.
Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is calculated as price divided by sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. NPNYY has a P/S ratio of 1.07. This compares to its industry’s average P/S of 2.04.
These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, NPNYY feels like a great value stock at the moment.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).