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Are Investors Undervaluing American Axle & Manufacturing (AXL) 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 rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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 American Axle & Manufacturing (AXL - Free Report) . AXL is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 4.93, which compares to its industry's average of 10.44. Over the past 52 weeks, AXL's Forward P/E has been as high as 5.93 and as low as 3.97, with a median of 4.70.

AXL is also sporting a PEG ratio of 0.61. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. AXL's industry has an average PEG of 0.99 right now. Over the past 52 weeks, AXL's PEG has been as high as 0.74 and as low as 0.49, with a median of 0.58.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is AXL's P/B ratio of 1.14. 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 company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.54. AXL's P/B has been as high as 1.47 and as low as 0.95, with a median of 1.12, over the past year.

Finally, our model also underscores that AXL has a P/CF ratio of 2.22. 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. AXL's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 7. Over the past year, AXL's P/CF has been as high as 3.43 and as low as 1.91, with a median of 2.27.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in American Axle & Manufacturing'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 AXL is an impressive value stock right now.


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