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Is Murphy Oil (MUR) a Great Value Stock 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 rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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 company to watch right now is Murphy Oil (MUR - Free Report) . MUR is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 3.98 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 5.05. MUR's Forward P/E has been as high as 47.18 and as low as 3.72, with a median of 10.52, all within the past year.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is MUR's P/B ratio of 1.09. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. MUR's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 3.13. Over the past year, MUR's P/B has been as high as 1.67 and as low as 0.73, with a median of 1.09.

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. MUR has a P/S ratio of 1.95. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.15.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that MUR has a P/CF ratio of 5.20. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 10.34. MUR's P/CF has been as high as 29.64 and as low as 4.75, with a median of 7.98, all within the past year.

Another great Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States stock you could consider is Ring Energy (REI - Free Report) , which is a # 2 (Buy) stock with a Value Score of A.

Furthermore, Ring Energy holds a P/B ratio of 0.86 and its industry's price-to-book ratio is 3.13. REI's P/B has been as high as 1.61, as low as 0.70, with a median of 1 over the past 12 months.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Murphy Oil and Ring Energy'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 MUR and REI is an impressive value stock right now.


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