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Are Investors Undervaluing Forestar Group (FOR) 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.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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 Forestar Group (FOR - Free Report) . FOR is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 5.33, while its industry has an average P/E of 6.53. Over the past 52 weeks, FOR's Forward P/E has been as high as 6.64 and as low as 3.21, with a median of 4.66.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is FOR's P/B ratio of 0.60. 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 company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 0.96. Over the past 12 months, FOR's P/B has been as high as 1.06 and as low as 0.43, with a median of 0.72.

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. FOR has a P/S ratio of 0.49. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.15.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that FOR has a P/CF ratio of 4. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 7.59. Within the past 12 months, FOR's P/CF has been as high as 9.57 and as low as 2.87, with a median of 5.28.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Forestar Group is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, FOR sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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