We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
Zacks.com featured highlights include: Signet Jewelers, Macy's, Citigroup, US Foods and Foundation Building Materials
Read MoreHide Full Article
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – March 16, 2020 – Stocks in this week’s article are Signet Jewelers Ltd. (SIG - Free Report) , Macy's, Inc. (M - Free Report) , Citigroup Inc. (C - Free Report) , US Foods Holding Corp. (USFD - Free Report) and Foundation Building Materials, Inc. .
5 Low P/CF Stocks to Buy Amid Coronavirus-Led Selloff
The rapidly spreading novel coronavirus has rattled the stock market and significantly disrupted economic activities worldwide — denting demand, hurting supply chain, slowing down production activities and temporary closure of brick-and-mortar locations. An edgy stock market was further spooked by Saudi Arabia and Russia’s failure to reach a consensus over output cut, which resulted in the collapse of crude oil prices.
These provided enough ammunition to the bears in the market, which triggered a massive sell-off amid fears of an economic recession. We note that Dow Jones, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have slid roughly 28.3%, 26.6% and 26%, respectively, in a month’s time.
Nonetheless, every possible measure is being taken to calm investors. The Federal Reserve in a bold move announced to inject up to $1.5 trillion into the financial system to provide cushion to the stock market and prevent unfolding of 2008 financial crisis like situation. Earlier, the Federal Reserve trimmed the benchmark interest rate by 0.5% to the range of 1-1.25%.
Now the big question is what strategy investors should apply. Is it time to get rid of stocks in your portfolio and wait for a conducive investing environment? Or is it time to spot those stocks that are trading cheap but fundamentally sound considering their long-term perspective?
Warren Buffett once said, "We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful." With the stock market in doldrums, fear is widespread, so its time to be greedy.
Here's an All-Weather Strategy
Value style is considered one of the best practices when it comes to picking stocks. There are different valuation metrics to determine a stock’s inherent strength but a random selection of a ratio cannot serve your purpose if you want a realistic assessment of a company’s financial position. For this, we would suggest Price to Cash Flow (or P/CF) ratio as one of the key metrics.
This metric evaluates the market price of a stock relative to the amount of cash flow that the company is generating on a per-share basis – the lower the number, the better. One of the important factors that make P/CF a highly dependable metric is that operating cash flow adds back non-cash charges such as depreciation and amortization to net income, truly diagnosing the financial health of a company.
It is net cash flow that reveals how much money a company is actually generating and how effectively management is putting the same to use. A positive cash flow indicates an increase in the company’s liquid assets. This gives the company the means to settle debt, shell out for expenses, reinvest in business, endure downturns and finally pay back its shareholders.
However, an investment decision solely based on the P/CF metric may not fetch the desired results. To identify stocks that are trading at a discount, you should expand your search criteria and also consider price-to-book ratio, price-to-earnings ratio and price-to-sales ratio. Adding a favorable Zacks Rank and a Value Score of A or B to your search criteria should lead to even better results as these eliminate the chance of falling into a value trap.
Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
About Screen of the Week
Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine. But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use.
Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News
Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has more than doubled the market from 1988 through 2016. Its average gain has been a stellar +25% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>.
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
See More Zacks Research for These Tickers
Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:
Image: Bigstock
Zacks.com featured highlights include: Signet Jewelers, Macy's, Citigroup, US Foods and Foundation Building Materials
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – March 16, 2020 – Stocks in this week’s article are Signet Jewelers Ltd. (SIG - Free Report) , Macy's, Inc. (M - Free Report) , Citigroup Inc. (C - Free Report) , US Foods Holding Corp. (USFD - Free Report) and Foundation Building Materials, Inc. .
5 Low P/CF Stocks to Buy Amid Coronavirus-Led Selloff
The rapidly spreading novel coronavirus has rattled the stock market and significantly disrupted economic activities worldwide — denting demand, hurting supply chain, slowing down production activities and temporary closure of brick-and-mortar locations. An edgy stock market was further spooked by Saudi Arabia and Russia’s failure to reach a consensus over output cut, which resulted in the collapse of crude oil prices.
These provided enough ammunition to the bears in the market, which triggered a massive sell-off amid fears of an economic recession. We note that Dow Jones, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have slid roughly 28.3%, 26.6% and 26%, respectively, in a month’s time.
Nonetheless, every possible measure is being taken to calm investors. The Federal Reserve in a bold move announced to inject up to $1.5 trillion into the financial system to provide cushion to the stock market and prevent unfolding of 2008 financial crisis like situation. Earlier, the Federal Reserve trimmed the benchmark interest rate by 0.5% to the range of 1-1.25%.
Now the big question is what strategy investors should apply. Is it time to get rid of stocks in your portfolio and wait for a conducive investing environment? Or is it time to spot those stocks that are trading cheap but fundamentally sound considering their long-term perspective?
Warren Buffett once said, "We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful." With the stock market in doldrums, fear is widespread, so its time to be greedy.
Here's an All-Weather Strategy
Value style is considered one of the best practices when it comes to picking stocks. There are different valuation metrics to determine a stock’s inherent strength but a random selection of a ratio cannot serve your purpose if you want a realistic assessment of a company’s financial position. For this, we would suggest Price to Cash Flow (or P/CF) ratio as one of the key metrics.
This metric evaluates the market price of a stock relative to the amount of cash flow that the company is generating on a per-share basis – the lower the number, the better. One of the important factors that make P/CF a highly dependable metric is that operating cash flow adds back non-cash charges such as depreciation and amortization to net income, truly diagnosing the financial health of a company.
It is net cash flow that reveals how much money a company is actually generating and how effectively management is putting the same to use. A positive cash flow indicates an increase in the company’s liquid assets. This gives the company the means to settle debt, shell out for expenses, reinvest in business, endure downturns and finally pay back its shareholders.
However, an investment decision solely based on the P/CF metric may not fetch the desired results. To identify stocks that are trading at a discount, you should expand your search criteria and also consider price-to-book ratio, price-to-earnings ratio and price-to-sales ratio. Adding a favorable Zacks Rank and a Value Score of A or B to your search criteria should lead to even better results as these eliminate the chance of falling into a value trap.
For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/811396/5-low-pcf-stocks-to-buy-amid-coronavirusled-sell-off
Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
About Screen of the Week
Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine. But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use.
Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News
Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has more than doubled the market from 1988 through 2016. Its average gain has been a stellar +25% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch
Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ZacksInvestmentResearch
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Contact: Jim Giaquinto
Company: Zacks.com
Phone: 312-265-9268
Email: pr@zacks.com
Visit: www.Zacks.com
Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.