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Are Investors Undervaluing Honda Motor Co. (HMC) 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, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors use tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

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 stock to keep an eye on is Honda Motor Co. (HMC - Free Report) . HMC is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 6.73 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 9.89. Over the past 52 weeks, HMC's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.31 and as low as 6.29, with a median of 7.67.

Investors should also recognize that HMC has a P/B ratio of 0.56. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 0.93. Within the past 52 weeks, HMC's P/B has been as high as 0.66 and as low as 0.52, with a median of 0.60.

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. HMC has a P/S ratio of 0.37. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.5.

Finally, we should also recognize that HMC has a P/CF ratio of 3.81. 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 stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 4.80. Within the past 12 months, HMC's P/CF has been as high as 5.37 and as low as 3.35, with a median of 3.79.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Honda Motor Co.'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 HMC is an impressive value stock right now.


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