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Should Value Investors Buy Laredo Petroleum (LPI) 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.

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.

On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.

One company to watch right now is Laredo Petroleum . LPI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.04. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 18.58. Over the past 52 weeks, LPI's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.31 and as low as 0.59, with a median of 2.89.

Value investors also frequently use the P/S ratio. This metric is found by dividing a stock's price with the company's revenue. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. LPI has a P/S ratio of 0.2. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.58.

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

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