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Is Assurant (AIZ) Stock Undervalued Right Now?

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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.

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

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.

Assurant (AIZ - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. AIZ is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value.

Investors should also recognize that AIZ has a P/B ratio of 2.07. 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 2.37. Over the past year, AIZ's P/B has been as high as 2.25 and as low as 1.68, with a median of 1.91.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. AIZ has a P/S ratio of 0.92. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.98.

Finally, our model also underscores that AIZ has a P/CF ratio of 11.61. 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 12.58. Within the past 12 months, AIZ's P/CF has been as high as 12.55 and as low as 8.50, with a median of 10.46.

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


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