While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.
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.
Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.
Matson (MATX) is a stock many investors are watching right now. MATX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 9.19, while its industry has an average P/E of 15.17. Over the last 12 months, MATX's Forward P/E has been as high as 16.84 and as low as 8.37, with a median of 13.94.
Another valuation metric that we should highlight is MATX's P/B ratio of 1.28. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 2.63. MATX's P/B has been as high as 2.17 and as low as 1.17, with a median of 1.77, over the past year.
Finally, our model also underscores that MATX has a P/CF ratio of 4.57. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. MATX's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 13.49. Over the past 52 weeks, MATX's P/CF has been as high as 8.11 and as low as 4.17, with a median of 6.85.
These are just a handful of the figures considered in Matson's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that MATX is an impressive value stock right now.
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Matson, Inc. (MATX): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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