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Are Investors Undervaluing Manulife Financial Corp (MFC) 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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. 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 stock to keep an eye on is Manulife Financial Corp (MFC - Free Report) . MFC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is MFC's P/B ratio of 1.63. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.95. MFC's P/B has been as high as 1.75 and as low as 1.33, with a median of 1.57, over the past year.

Finally, we should also recognize that MFC has a P/CF ratio of 15.43. 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 17.92. Within the past 12 months, MFC's P/CF has been as high as 16.32 and as low as 11.05, with a median of 13.16.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Manulife Financial Corp is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, MFC sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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