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Should Value Investors Buy These Retail-Wholesale Stocks?

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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.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 value investors might notice is MarineMax (HZO - Free Report) . HZO is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 5.82, while its industry has an average P/E of 16.74. Over the past 52 weeks, HZO's Forward P/E has been as high as 13.89 and as low as 5.34, with a median of 7.65.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is 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. HZO has a P/S ratio of 0.45. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.7.

Finally, our model also underscores that HZO has a P/CF ratio of 5.62. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 11.68. Within the past 12 months, HZO's P/CF has been as high as 13.57 and as low as 5.16, with a median of 7.24.

If you're looking for another solid Retail - Miscellaneous value stock, take a look at Itochu (ITOCY - Free Report) . ITOCY is a # 1 (Strong Buy) stock with a Value score of A.

Shares of Itochu are currently trading at a forward earnings multiple of 9.17 and a PEG ratio of 0.60 compared to its industry's P/E and PEG ratios of 16.74 and 0.67, respectively.

ITOCY's price-to-earnings ratio has been as high as 11.36 and as low as 6.76, with a median of 8.14, while its PEG ratio has been as high as 3.07 and as low as 0.34, with a median of 0.53, all within the past year.

Itochu sports a P/B ratio of 1.38 as well; this compares to its industry's price-to-book ratio of 9.75. In the past 52 weeks, ITOCY's P/B has been as high as 1.44, as low as 1.15, with a median of 1.26.

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


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