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Is Newfield Exploration (NFX) a Great Value Stock 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, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 Newfield Exploration . NFX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 6.29. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.61. Over the past year, NFX's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.79 and as low as 6.27, with a median of 8.23.

NFX is also sporting a PEG ratio of 0.51. 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. NFX's industry has an average PEG of 0.97 right now. Within the past year, NFX's PEG has been as high as 1.39 and as low as 0.45, with a median of 0.65.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that NFX has a P/CF ratio of 5.52. 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. NFX's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 7.28. Within the past 12 months, NFX's P/CF has been as high as 8.33 and as low as 5.16, with a median of 6.51.

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

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