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Is Cigna (CI) Stock Undervalued Right Now?

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Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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 to watch right now is Cigna (CI - Free Report) . CI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 9.38 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 9.56. CI's Forward P/E has been as high as 14.12 and as low as 8.44, with a median of 11.53, all within the past year.

We also note that CI holds a PEG ratio of 0.77. 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. CI's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.04. Over the past 52 weeks, CI's PEG has been as high as 1.16 and as low as 0.69, with a median of 0.93.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CI's P/B ratio of 1.47. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. CI's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.54. Over the past year, CI's P/B has been as high as 3.52 and as low as 1.30, with a median of 1.85.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. CI has a P/S ratio of 0.82. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.07.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Cigna'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 CI is an impressive value stock right now.


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