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Is HCA Holdings (HCA) 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.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. 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.

HCA Holdings (HCA - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. HCA 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 12.27 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 12.38. Over the last 12 months, HCA's Forward P/E has been as high as 14.55 and as low as 10.65, with a median of 12.08.

Investors will also notice that HCA has a PEG ratio of 1.01. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. HCA's industry has an average PEG of 1.06 right now. Within the past year, HCA's PEG has been as high as 1.32 and as low as 0.90, with a median of 1.02.

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


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