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Are Investors Undervaluing Pilgrim's Pride (PPC) 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.

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 Pilgrim's Pride (PPC - Free Report) . PPC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 9.96, while its industry has an average P/E of 15.66. Over the past year, PPC's Forward P/E has been as high as 18.59 and as low as 8.43, with a median of 10.71.

Investors will also notice that PPC has a PEG ratio of 0.24. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. PPC's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 0.59. Over the past 52 weeks, PPC's PEG has been as high as 0.42 and as low as 0.20, with a median of 0.26.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. PPC has a P/S ratio of 0.64. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.95.

Finally, we should also recognize that PPC has a P/CF ratio of 9.51. 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 company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 13.52. PPC's P/CF has been as high as 14.59 and as low as 7.56, with a median of 9.11, all within the past year.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Pilgrim's Pride's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, PPC looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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