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Are Investors Undervaluing Pfizer (PFE) 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.

Of these, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

One company value investors might notice is Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) . PFE is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 8.82, while its industry has an average P/E of 16.87. Over the past year, PFE's Forward P/E has been as high as 19.41 and as low as 8.50, with a median of 11.02.

We also note that PFE holds a PEG ratio of 0.83. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. PFE's industry has an average PEG of 1.34 right now. Within the past year, PFE's PEG has been as high as 2.77 and as low as 0.80, with a median of 1.08.

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 popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. PFE has a P/S ratio of 2.44. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 4.16.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that PFE has a P/CF ratio of 13.19. 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. PFE's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 26.47. Within the past 12 months, PFE's P/CF has been as high as 43.59 and as low as 8.88, with a median of 19.97.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Pfizer is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, PFE feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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