Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Are Investors Undervaluing Sumitomo (SSUMY) Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. 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.

One stock to keep an eye on is Sumitomo (SSUMY - Free Report) . SSUMY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 8.82, which compares to its industry's average of 16.25. Over the past year, SSUMY's Forward P/E has been as high as 9.29 and as low as 6.72, with a median of 7.78.

SSUMY is also sporting a PEG ratio of 1.86. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. SSUMY's industry currently sports an average PEG of 2.01. Over the past 52 weeks, SSUMY's PEG has been as high as 6.03 and as low as 0.53, with a median of 0.72.

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. SSUMY has a P/S ratio of 1.07. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.56.

Finally, we should also recognize that SSUMY has a P/CF ratio of 6.52. 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 13.02. Over the past 52 weeks, SSUMY's P/CF has been as high as 8.05 and as low as 4.80, with a median of 6.74.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Sumitomo's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that SSUMY is an impressive value stock right now.

Zacks' 7 Best Strong Buy Stocks (New Research Report)

Valued at $99, click below to receive our just-released report predicting the 7 stocks that will soar highest in the coming month.

Click Here, It's Really Free

Published in