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 use tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.
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.
One company value investors might notice is Hawaiian Electric Industries (HE). HE is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 11.4 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 14.72. Over the past year, HE's Forward P/E has been as high as 11.93 and as low as 5.53, with a median of 10.75.
We should also highlight that HE has a P/B ratio of 1.28. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with 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 2.44. Over the past 12 months, HE's P/B has been as high as 1.78 and as low as 0.42, with a median of 1.16.
These are only a few of the key metrics included in Hawaiian Electric Industries's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, HE looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.
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Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (HE): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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