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Should Value Investors Buy National Fuel Gas (NFG) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

Of these, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. 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.

National Fuel Gas (NFG - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. NFG 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 14.05 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 21.44. Over the last 12 months, NFG's Forward P/E has been as high as 16.75 and as low as 11.97, with a median of 14.39.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is NFG's P/B ratio of 1.84. 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 stock's P/B looks solid versus its industry's average P/B of 2.64. Within the past 52 weeks, NFG's P/B has been as high as 2.27 and as low as 1.31, with a median of 1.82.

Finally, we should also recognize that NFG has a P/CF ratio of 9.79. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 12.17. Over the past year, NFG's P/CF has been as high as 9.96 and as low as 5.01, with a median of 7.10.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in National Fuel Gas's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that NFG is an impressive value stock right now.


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