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Is Manulife Financial (MFC) a Great Value Stock 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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. 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.

One company to watch right now is Manulife Financial (MFC - Free Report) . MFC 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 8.07, while its industry has an average P/E of 9.54. Over the past 52 weeks, MFC's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.93 and as low as 6.16, with a median of 7.76.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is MFC's P/B ratio of 1.14. 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. MFC's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.81. Over the past year, MFC's P/B has been as high as 1.16 and as low as 0.84, with a median of 1.06.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that MFC has a P/CF ratio of 6.89. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 18.49. MFC's P/CF has been as high as 13.57 and as low as 6.31, with a median of 7.71, all within the past year.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Manulife Financial'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, MFC looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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