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Are Investors Undervaluing A.P. Moller-Maersk (AMKBY) 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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

One company to watch right now is A.P. Moller-Maersk (AMKBY - Free Report) . AMKBY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is AMKBY's P/B ratio of 0.68. 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 solid versus its industry's average P/B of 1.41. Over the past 12 months, AMKBY's P/B has been as high as 0.70 and as low as 0.47, with a median of 0.60.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. AMKBY has a P/S ratio of 0.64. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.27.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that AMKBY has a P/CF ratio of 2.23. 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 5.78. Over the past year, AMKBY's P/CF has been as high as 2.25 and as low as 0.87, with a median of 1.26.

Global Ship Lease (GSL - Free Report) may be another strong Transportation - Shipping stock to add to your shortlist. GSL is a # 2 (Buy) stock with a Value grade of A.

Global Ship Lease also has a P/B ratio of 0.66 compared to its industry's price-to-book ratio of 1.41. Over the past year, its P/B ratio has been as high as 0.78, as low as 0.53, with a median of 0.66.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that A.P. Moller-Maersk and Global Ship Lease are likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, AMKBY and GSL sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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