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Are Investors Undervaluing Koppers (KOP) 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 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.

Koppers (KOP - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. KOP is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 4.96, which compares to its industry's average of 10.32. Over the last 12 months, KOP's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.05 and as low as 4.57, with a median of 6.15.

Another notable valuation metric for KOP is its P/B ratio of 1.23. 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 stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 1.96. KOP's P/B has been as high as 1.97 and as low as 1.10, with a median of 1.40, over the past year.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. KOP has a P/S ratio of 0.26. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.54.

Finally, we should also recognize that KOP has a P/CF ratio of 4.01. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. KOP's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 6.06. Over the past 52 weeks, KOP's P/CF has been as high as 5.83 and as low as 3.56, with a median of 4.38.

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


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