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Are Investors Undervaluing Crown Holdings (CCK) Right Now?

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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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

One company value investors might notice is Crown Holdings (CCK - Free Report) . CCK is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 13.28 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 18.79. Over the past year, CCK's Forward P/E has been as high as 14.49 and as low as 7.97, with a median of 12.75.

CCK is also sporting a PEG ratio of 2.66. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. CCK's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 3.76. Within the past year, CCK's PEG has been as high as 2.73 and as low as 1.14, with a median of 1.89.

Investors should also recognize that CCK has a P/B ratio of 4.40. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus 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 6.84. Over the past 12 months, CCK's P/B has been as high as 5.47 and as low as 2.83, with a median of 4.68.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. CCK has a P/S ratio of 0.86. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.91.

Finally, investors should note that CCK has a P/CF ratio of 9.79. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. CCK's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 17.76. Over the past year, CCK's P/CF has been as high as 10.75 and as low as 5.76, with a median of 9.28.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Crown Holdings is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, CCK feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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