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Are Investors Undervaluing Hancock Whitney (HWC) 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.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

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 stock to keep an eye on is Hancock Whitney (HWC - Free Report) . HWC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.70. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.74. Over the past 52 weeks, HWC's Forward P/E has been as high as 11.16 and as low as 7.34, with a median of 8.83.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is HWC's P/B ratio of 1.44. 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 2.02. Over the past 12 months, HWC's P/B has been as high as 1.52 and as low as 1.09, with a median of 1.25.

Finally, our model also underscores that HWC has a P/CF ratio of 7.71. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 13.53. Over the past year, HWC's P/CF has been as high as 8.83 and as low as 6.05, with a median of 7.51.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Hancock Whitney is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, HWC sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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