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Should Value Investors Buy Johnson Matthey (JMPLY) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

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.

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 Johnson Matthey (JMPLY - Free Report) . JMPLY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 13.17, which compares to its industry's average of 19.07. Over the past 52 weeks, JMPLY's Forward P/E has been as high as 13.44 and as low as 6.77, with a median of 8.63.

Investors will also notice that JMPLY has a PEG ratio of 2.95. 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. JMPLY's industry currently sports an average PEG of 3.04. Over the past 52 weeks, JMPLY's PEG has been as high as 3.28 and as low as 0.40, with a median of 0.53.

Another notable valuation metric for JMPLY is its P/B ratio of 1.49. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against 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 1.51. Over the past 12 months, JMPLY's P/B has been as high as 1.52 and as low as 0.83, with a median of 1.02.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Johnson Matthey'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, JMPLY looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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