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Are Investors Undervaluing Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT) Right Now?

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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 fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT - Free Report) . AHT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 6.37, which compares to its industry's average of 15.86. Over the past 52 weeks, AHT's Forward P/E has been as high as 6.77 and as low as 3.82, with a median of 4.71.

Investors will also notice that AHT has a PEG ratio of 1.27. 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. AHT's industry currently sports an average PEG of 2.91. Within the past year, AHT's PEG has been as high as 1.35 and as low as 0.77, with a median of 0.94.

Investors should also recognize that AHT has a P/B ratio of 1.36. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to 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 2.49. Over the past 12 months, AHT's P/B has been as high as 1.44 and as low as 0.77, with a median of 0.98.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that AHT has a P/CF ratio of 4.06. 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. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 15.60. Over the past year, AHT's P/CF has been as high as 4.31 and as low as 2.72, with a median of 3.33.

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


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