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Are Investors Undervaluing J. Alexander's (JAX) Right Now?

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The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks.

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.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

One company value investors might notice is J. Alexander's . JAX is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 15.20 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 23.76. Over the past 52 weeks, JAX's Forward P/E has been as high as 18.18 and as low as 13.57, with a median of 15.28.

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. JAX has a P/S ratio of 0.61. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.93.

Finally, investors should note that JAX has a P/CF ratio of 7.63. 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 17.02. Over the past year, JAX's P/CF has been as high as 9.46 and as low as 5.96, with a median of 8.41.

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

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