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Are Investors Undervaluing These Transportation Stocks Right Now?

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While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.

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 value investors might notice is Deutsche Post . DPSGY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and an A for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 12.12, while its industry has an average P/E of 14.50. Over the past year, DPSGY's Forward P/E has been as high as 16.76 and as low as 12.11, with a median of 14.89.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is DPSGY's P/B ratio of 3.72. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against 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 4.11. Over the past year, DPSGY's P/B has been as high as 4.50 and as low as 3.29, with a median of 3.98.

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. DPSGY has a P/S ratio of 0.79. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.19.

Finally, we should also recognize that DPSGY has a P/CF ratio of 7.25. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 28.86. Over the past year, DPSGY's P/CF has been as high as 10 and as low as 7.24, with a median of 8.40.

If you're looking for another solid Transportation - Services value stock, take a look at Matson (MATX - Free Report) . MATX is a # 1 (Strong Buy) stock with a Value score of A.

Additionally, Matson has a P/B ratio of 2.46 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 4.11. For MATX, this valuation metric has been as high as 3.47, as low as 2.31, with a median of 2.79 over the past year.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Deutsche Post and Matson are likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, DPSGY and MATX feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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