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Are Investors Undervaluing Owens Corning (OC) Right Now?

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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, 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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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 Owens Corning (OC - Free Report) . OC 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 8.86 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 14.35. Over the past 52 weeks, OC's Forward P/E has been as high as 14.56 and as low as 7.51, with a median of 10.15.

Investors should also note that OC holds a PEG ratio of 0.63. 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. OC's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 0.79. Over the last 12 months, OC's PEG has been as high as 1.04 and as low as 0.30, with a median of 0.41.

We should also highlight that OC has a P/B ratio of 2.21. 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 solid versus its industry's average P/B of 3.36. Over the past 12 months, OC's P/B has been as high as 2.85 and as low as 1.87, with a median of 2.27.

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. OC has a P/S ratio of 1.1. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.38.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that OC has a P/CF ratio of 6.49. 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 company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 18.41. OC's P/CF has been as high as 9.25 and as low as 5.49, with a median of 6.65, all within the past year.

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


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