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Should Value Investors Buy Huron Consulting Group (HURN) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

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.

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 to watch right now is Huron Consulting Group (HURN - Free Report) . HURN is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 15.73, while its industry has an average P/E of 29.79. HURN's Forward P/E has been as high as 21.58 and as low as 13.80, with a median of 16.38, all within the past year.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is HURN's P/B ratio of 3.73. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. HURN's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 9.89. HURN's P/B has been as high as 4.03 and as low as 3.10, with a median of 3.57, over the past year.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. HURN has a P/S ratio of 1.4. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.02.

Finally, our model also underscores that HURN has a P/CF ratio of 18.43. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 28.43. Over the past year, HURN's P/CF has been as high as 23.60 and as low as 17.02, with a median of 19.24.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Huron Consulting Group'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 HURN is an impressive value stock right now.


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