Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Should Value Investors Buy Hanmi Financial (HAFC) Stock?

Read MoreHide Full Article

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 rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

One company value investors might notice is Hanmi Financial (HAFC - Free Report) . HAFC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 8.71, which compares to its industry's average of 12.86. Over the past 52 weeks, HAFC's Forward P/E has been as high as 17.28 and as low as 5.04, with a median of 10.61.

Investors will also notice that HAFC has a PEG ratio of 1.01. 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. HAFC's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.94.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is HAFC's P/B ratio of 0.46. 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 1.16. Within the past 52 weeks, HAFC's P/B has been as high as 1.12 and as low as 0.43, with a median of 0.60.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. HAFC has a P/S ratio of 0.89. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.02.

Finally, our model also underscores that HAFC has a P/CF ratio of 6.78. 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 13.83. Over the past year, HAFC's P/CF has been as high as 14.63 and as low as 6.01, with a median of 10.71.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Hanmi Financial'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 HAFC is an impressive value stock right now.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Hanmi Financial Corporation (HAFC) - free report >>

Published in