Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Should Value Investors Buy SunCoke Energy (SXC) Stock?

Read MoreHide Full Article

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.

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.

One company value investors might notice is SunCoke Energy (SXC - Free Report) . SXC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value.

Investors should also recognize that SXC has a P/B ratio of 1.43. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.54. Within the past 52 weeks, SXC's P/B has been as high as 1.48 and as low as 0.90, with a median of 1.20.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. SXC has a P/S ratio of 0.45. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in SunCoke Energy's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, SXC looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


SunCoke Energy, Inc. (SXC) - free report >>

Published in