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Is Huntsman (HUN) a Great Value Stock Right Now?

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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.

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 to watch right now is Huntsman (HUN - Free Report) . HUN is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 9.09 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 13.43. Over the past year, HUN's Forward P/E has been as high as 23.17 and as low as 8.78, with a median of 14.29.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is HUN's P/B ratio of 1.57. 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 2.69. Within the past 52 weeks, HUN's P/B has been as high as 1.88 and as low as 1.12, with a median of 1.63.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. HUN has a P/S ratio of 0.92. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.12.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that HUN has a P/CF ratio of 8.41. 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 stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 10.97. Over the past year, HUN's P/CF has been as high as 10.04 and as low as 3.10, with a median of 4.53.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Huntsman's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, HUN looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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