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Should Value Investors Buy Eni (E) 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.

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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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.

Eni (E - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. E is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and an A for Value.

Another notable valuation metric for E is its P/B ratio of 0.97. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 1.96. E's P/B has been as high as 1.00 and as low as 0.70, with a median of 0.85, over the past year.

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. E has a P/S ratio of 0.94. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.02.

Finally, investors should note that E has a P/CF ratio of 4.96. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. E's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 7.15. Within the past 12 months, E's P/CF has been as high as 5.13 and as low as 3.64, with a median of 4.30.

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

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