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Are Investors Undervaluing Cigna (CI) Right Now?

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

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.

Cigna (CI - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. CI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 9.10, while its industry has an average P/E of 9.13. CI's Forward P/E has been as high as 14.12 and as low as 8.44, with a median of 12.19, all within the past year.

Investors will also notice that CI has a PEG ratio of 0.74. 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. CI's industry has an average PEG of 0.99 right now. Over the last 12 months, CI's PEG has been as high as 1.16 and as low as 0.69, with a median of 1.01.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CI's P/B ratio of 1.42. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against 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 1.47. CI's P/B has been as high as 3.52 and as low as 1.30, with a median of 2.84, 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. CI has a P/S ratio of 0.81. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.04.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Cigna's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, CI looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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