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Are Investors Undervaluing United Continental (UAL) 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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.

One company value investors might notice is United Continental (UAL - Free Report) . UAL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 7.52 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 8.77. Over the past 52 weeks, UAL's Forward P/E has been as high as 12.18 and as low as 7.52, with a median of 8.86.

Investors will also notice that UAL has a PEG ratio of 0.34. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. UAL's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 0.73. Over the past 52 weeks, UAL's PEG has been as high as 1.98 and as low as 0.34, with a median of 0.44.

Investors should also recognize that UAL has a P/B ratio of 2.30. 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 company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.45. Over the past 12 months, UAL's P/B has been as high as 2.85 and as low as 2.12, with a median of 2.40.

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. UAL has a P/S ratio of 0.54. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.7.

Finally, we should also recognize that UAL has a P/CF ratio of 4.99. 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. UAL's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 5.56. Within the past 12 months, UAL's P/CF has been as high as 6.04 and as low as 4.27, with a median of 5.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in United Continental'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 UAL is an impressive value stock right now.


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