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Are Investors Undervaluing CNA Financial (CNA) 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 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 company to watch right now is CNA Financial (CNA - Free Report) . CNA 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 10.89 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 25.25. Over the past year, CNA's Forward P/E has been as high as 11.66 and as low as 8.99, with a median of 10.33.

Another notable valuation metric for CNA is its P/B ratio of 1.48. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 1.54. Over the past 12 months, CNA's P/B has been as high as 1.48 and as low as 0.92, with a median of 1.20.

Another great Insurance - Property and Casualty stock you could consider is The Hanover Insurance Group (THG - Free Report) , which is a # 2 (Buy) stock with a Value Score of A.

The Hanover Insurance Group is currently trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 15.57 while its PEG ratio sits at 0.39. Both of the company's metrics compare favorably to its industry's average P/E of 25.25 and average PEG ratio of 2.18.

Over the past year, THG's P/E has been as high as 15.57, as low as 10.95, with a median of 13.22; its PEG ratio has been as high as 1.04, as low as 0.38, with a median of 2.07 during the same time period.

Additionally, The Hanover Insurance Group has a P/B ratio of 2.27 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 1.54. For THG, this valuation metric has been as high as 2.29, as low as 1.52, with a median of 1.89 over the past year.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that CNA Financial and The Hanover Insurance Group are likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, CNA and THG sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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