Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Are Investors Undervaluing Huntsman (HUN) Right Now?

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.

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 fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 value investors might notice is Huntsman (HUN - Free Report) . HUN is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 14.04, while its industry has an average P/E of 21.37. Over the last 12 months, HUN's Forward P/E has been as high as 27.47 and as low as 8.48, with a median of 15.99.

Investors will also notice that HUN has a PEG ratio of 1.57. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. HUN's industry currently sports an average PEG of 3.30. Within the past year, HUN's PEG has been as high as 4.33 and as low as 1.03, with a median of 1.99.

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. HUN has a P/S ratio of 1.06. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.12.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that HUN has a P/CF ratio of 4.79. 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 year, HUN's P/CF has been as high as 5.86 and as low as 2.07, with a median of 4.10.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Huntsman'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, HUN looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


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


Huntsman Corporation (HUN) - free report >>

Published in