Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is China Life (LFC) Stock Undervalued Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

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 tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

One company to watch right now is China Life . LFC is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and a Value grade of A.

We should also highlight that LFC has a P/B ratio of 1.31. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against 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 1.73. LFC's P/B has been as high as 1.67 and as low as 1.14, with a median of 1.26, over the past year.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. LFC has a P/S ratio of 0.71. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.75.

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

Published in