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Should Value Investors Buy H&E Equipment Services (HEES) 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.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

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 H&E Equipment Services (HEES - Free Report) . HEES is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 12.43 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 16.53. HEES's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.52 and as low as 7.96, with a median of 10.31, all within the past year.

HEES is also sporting a PEG ratio of 0.87. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. HEES's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.55. Over the last 12 months, HEES's PEG has been as high as 1.09 and as low as 0.63, with a median of 0.84.

Another notable valuation metric for HEES is its P/B ratio of 4.38. 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 solid versus its industry's average P/B of 7.67. Within the past 52 weeks, HEES's P/B has been as high as 4.41 and as low as 2.85, with a median of 3.61.

Finally, our model also underscores that HEES has a P/CF ratio of 4.12. 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. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 12.02. Over the past 52 weeks, HEES's P/CF has been as high as 4.15 and as low as 2.53, with a median of 3.22.

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


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