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Should Value Investors Buy Manulife Financial Corp (MFC) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

Manulife Financial Corp (MFC - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. MFC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is MFC's P/B ratio of 1.16. 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 1.68. Within the past 52 weeks, MFC's P/B has been as high as 1.19 and as low as 0.77, with a median of 0.91.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that MFC has a P/CF ratio of 7.58. 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 company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 12.52. MFC's P/CF has been as high as 7.70 and as low as 4.86, with a median of 6.02, all within the past year.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Manulife Financial Corp's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that MFC is an impressive value stock right now.


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