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Should Value Investors Buy Matson (MATX) Stock?

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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 Matson (MATX - Free Report) . MATX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 9.80 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 22.01. Over the last 12 months, MATX's Forward P/E has been as high as 28.13 and as low as 9.80, with a median of 17.04.

Investors should also recognize that MATX has a P/B ratio of 2.67. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 4.67. MATX's P/B has been as high as 3.47 and as low as 1.45, with a median of 2.71, over the past year.

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


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