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Should Value Investors Buy PACCAR (PCAR) Stock?

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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.

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 company value investors might notice is PACCAR (PCAR - Free Report) . PCAR is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A.

Investors should also note that PCAR holds a PEG ratio of 1.26. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. PCAR's industry currently sports an average PEG of 3.10. Over the last 12 months, PCAR's PEG has been as high as 1.32 and as low as 0.94, with a median of 1.15.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is PCAR's P/B ratio of 3.35. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to 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 5.70. Over the past year, PCAR's P/B has been as high as 3.37 and as low as 2.23, with a median of 2.71.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. PCAR has a P/S ratio of 1.51. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.3.

Finally, investors should note that PCAR has a P/CF ratio of 12.12. 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. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 23.82. Over the past 52 weeks, PCAR's P/CF has been as high as 12.17 and as low as 8.57, with a median of 10.06.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that PACCAR is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, PCAR feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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