Are Investors Undervaluing Vistra Energy Corp. (VST) Right Now?

VST

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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.

One stock to keep an eye on is Vistra Energy Corp. (VST - Free Report) . VST 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 7.61 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 15.44. Over the last 12 months, VST's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.63 and as low as 5.51, with a median of 10.61.

Investors should also recognize that VST has a P/B ratio of 1.04. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 1.75. Within the past 52 weeks, VST's P/B has been as high as 1.73 and as low as 0.77, with a median of 1.47.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. VST has a P/S ratio of 0.73. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.91.

Finally, our model also underscores that VST has a P/CF ratio of 3.03. 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. VST's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 7.58. Over the past year, VST's P/CF has been as high as 6.06 and as low as 2.25, with a median of 4.88.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Vistra Energy Corp.'s strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, VST looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.

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