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Should Value Investors Pick Skyline Champion (SKY) Stock Now?

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Value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. After all, who wouldn’t want to find stocks that are either flying under the radar and are compelling buys, or offer up tantalizing discounts when compared to fair value?

One way to find these companies is by looking at several key metrics and financial ratios, many of which are crucial in the value stock selection process. Let’s put Skyline Champion Corporation (SKY - Free Report) stock into this equation and find out if it is a good choice for value-oriented investors right now, or if investors subscribing to this methodology should look elsewhere for top picks:

PE Ratio

A key metric that value investors always look at is the Price to Earnings Ratio, or PE for short. This shows us how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings in a given stock, and is easily one of the most popular financial ratios in the world. The best use of the PE ratio is to compare the stock’s current PE ratio with: a) where this ratio has been in the past; b) how it compares to the average for the industry/sector; and c) how it compares to the market as a whole.

On this front, Skyline Champion has a trailing twelve months PE ratio of 10.29, as you can see in the chart below:

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

This level actually compares pretty favorably with the market at large, as the PE for the S&P 500 stands at about 17.44. If we focus on the long-term PE trend, Skyline Champion’s current PE level puts it below its midpoint (which is 27.65) over the past five years. Moreover, the current level stands well below the highs for the stock, suggesting that it can be a solid entry point.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Further, the stock’s PE also compares favorably with the Zacks Construction sector’s trailing twelve months PE ratio, which stands at 10.31. At the very least, this indicates that the stock is relatively undervalued right now, compared to its peers.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

We should also point out that Skyline Champion has a forward PE ratio (price relative to this year’s earnings) of just 9.74, so it is fair to say that a slightly more value-oriented path may be ahead for Skyline Champion stock in the near term too.

P/S Ratio

Another key metric to note is the Price/Sales ratio. This approach compares a given stock’s price to its total sales, where a lower reading is generally considered better. Some people like this metric more than other value-focused ones because it looks at sales, something that is far harder to manipulate with accounting tricks than earnings.

Right now, Skyline Champion has a P/S ratio of about 1.37. This is a bit lower than the S&P 500 average, which comes in at 3.47x right now. Also, as we can see in the chart below, this is well below the highs for this stock in particular over the past few years.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

If anything, this suggests some level of undervalued trading—at least compared to historical norms.

Broad Value Outlook

In aggregate, Skyline Champion currently has a Value Score of B, putting it into the top 40% of all stocks we cover from this look. This makes Skyline Champion a solid choice for value investors, and some of its other key metrics make this pretty clear too.

What About the Stock Overall?

Though Skyline Champion might be a good choice for value investors, there are plenty of other factors to consider before investing in this name. In particular, it is worth noting that the company has a Growth Score of A and a Momentum Score of D. This gives SKY a Zacks VGM score — or its overarching fundamental grade — of B. (You can read more about the Zacks Style Scores here >>)

This has had a small impact on the consensus estimate though as the current quarter consensus estimate did not witness any change in the past two months, while the full year estimate has inched up by roughly 1%. You can see the consensus estimate trend and recent price action for the stock in the chart below:

This somewhat mixed trend is why the stock has just a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and why we are looking for in-line performance from the company in the near term.

Bottom Line

Skyline Champion is an inspired choice for value investors, as it is hard to beat its incredible lineup of statistics on this front. However, with a sluggish industry rank (among Bottom 8% of more than 250 industries)and a Zacks Rank #3, it is hard to get too excited about this company overall. In fact, over the past two years, the Zacks Building Products - Mobile Homes and RV Builders industry has clearly underperformed the broader market, as you can see below:

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

So, value investors might want to wait for estimates and analyst sentiment to turn around in this name first, but once that happens, this stock could be a compelling pick.


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