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Are Investors Undervaluing Manulife Financial Corp (MFC) Right Now?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.

One company to watch right now is Manulife Financial Corp (MFC - Free Report) . MFC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is MFC's P/B ratio of 1.39. 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 stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 1.83. MFC's P/B has been as high as 1.44 and as low as 0.86, with a median of 1.15, over the past year.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that MFC has a P/CF ratio of 8.55. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 12.75. Over the past 52 weeks, MFC's P/CF has been as high as 8.83 and as low as 5.16, with a median of 6.63.

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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