Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Are Investors Undervaluing Allstate (ALL) Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

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.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. 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 company value investors might notice is Allstate (ALL - Free Report) . ALL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 9.21 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 26.96. Over the past year, ALL's Forward P/E has been as high as 11.84 and as low as 8.78, with a median of 10.15.

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 preferred metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. ALL has a P/S ratio of 0.96. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.34.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that ALL has a P/CF ratio of 8.66. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 11.39. ALL's P/CF has been as high as 14.16 and as low as 8.07, with a median of 10.58, all within the past year.

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

Published in