Are Investors Undervaluing Koppers (KOP) Right Now?

KOP

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.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. 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 stock to keep an eye on is Koppers (KOP - Free Report) . KOP is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 7.74 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 18.07. Over the past year, KOP's Forward P/E has been as high as 11.01 and as low as 2.58, with a median of 7.40.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. KOP has a P/S ratio of 0.32. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.91.

Finally, we should also recognize that KOP has a P/CF ratio of 4.52. 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 11.73. Over the past 52 weeks, KOP's P/CF has been as high as 9.40 and as low as 1.64, with a median of 5.73.

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

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