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Should Value Investors Buy Donegal Group (DGICA) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.

One company to watch right now is Donegal Group (DGICA - Free Report) . DGICA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 12.12 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 27.23. DGICA's Forward P/E has been as high as 18.79 and as low as 10.55, with a median of 15.67, all within the past year.

Another notable valuation metric for DGICA is its P/B ratio of 0.90. 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. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.42. DGICA's P/B has been as high as 1.01 and as low as 0.74, with a median of 0.95, 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. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. DGICA has a P/S ratio of 0.51. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.76.

Finally, our model also underscores that DGICA has a P/CF ratio of 9.88. 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 stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 15.10. Within the past 12 months, DGICA's P/CF has been as high as 23.32 and as low as 5.16, with a median of 14.50.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Donegal Group is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, DGICA sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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