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Should Value Investors Buy Panasonic (PCRFY) 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.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 Panasonic . PCRFY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 8.96, while its industry has an average P/E of 16.81. Over the past 52 weeks, PCRFY's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.53 and as low as 8.80, with a median of 11.46.

Investors should also recognize that PCRFY has a P/B ratio of 0.71. 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. PCRFY's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.92. PCRFY's P/B has been as high as 1.01 and as low as 0.66, with a median of 0.83, over the past year.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. PCRFY has a P/S ratio of 0.35. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.56.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that PCRFY has a P/CF ratio of 4.69. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. PCRFY's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 6.74. Over the past year, PCRFY's P/CF has been as high as 5.66 and as low as 4.15, with a median of 4.50.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Panasonic'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 PCRFY is an impressive value stock right now.

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