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Should Value Investors Buy Ahold (ADRNY) Stock?

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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 use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 value investors might notice is Ahold (ADRNY - Free Report) . ADRNY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 10.95 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 17.75. Over the past 52 weeks, ADRNY's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.68 and as low as 9.92, with a median of 10.92.

Investors should also recognize that ADRNY has a P/B ratio of 1.78. 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 3.79. Within the past 52 weeks, ADRNY's P/B has been as high as 2.05 and as low as 1.62, with a median of 1.77.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. ADRNY has a P/S ratio of 0.3. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.64.

Energizer (ENR - Free Report) may be another strong Consumer Products - Staples stock to add to your shortlist. ENR is a # 2 (Buy) stock with a Value grade of A.

Energizer also has a P/B ratio of 12.02 compared to its industry's price-to-book ratio of 3.79. Over the past year, its P/B ratio has been as high as 17.14, as low as 9.77, with a median of 13.33.

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


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