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Should Value Investors Buy Sumitomo (SSUMY) Stock?

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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.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.

One stock to keep an eye on is Sumitomo (SSUMY - Free Report) . SSUMY is currently holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 8.82 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 15.78. SSUMY's Forward P/E has been as high as 9.29 and as low as 6.72, with a median of 7.78, all within the past year.

Investors will also notice that SSUMY has 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 PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.97. Over the last 12 months, 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. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. SSUMY has a P/S ratio of 1. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.3.

Finally, our model also underscores 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. SSUMY's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 11.13. Within the past 12 months, SSUMY's P/CF has been as high as 8.05 and as low as 4.80, with a median of 6.74.

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

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