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Are Investors Undervaluing DaVita (DVA) 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.

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.

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 company value investors might notice is DaVita (DVA - Free Report) . DVA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 14.90 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 21.29. DVA's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.73 and as low as 9.57, with a median of 13.29, all within the past year.

We also note that DVA holds a PEG ratio of 1.23. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. DVA's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.85. DVA's PEG has been as high as 1.87 and as low as 0.56, with a median of 0.98, all within the past year.

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 popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. DVA has a P/S ratio of 0.97. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.34.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that DaVita is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, DVA sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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