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Are Investors Undervaluing These Consumer Staples 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.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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.

Edgewell Personal Care (EPC - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. EPC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 14.27, while its industry has an average P/E of 21.98. Over the past 52 weeks, EPC's Forward P/E has been as high as 16.21 and as low as 10.55, with a median of 13.80.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is EPC's P/B ratio of 1.58. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 3.97. EPC's P/B has been as high as 1.78 and as low as 1.12, with a median of 1.48, over the past year.

Another great Consumer Products - Staples stock you could consider is Franchise Group , which is a # 1 (Strong Buy) stock with a Value Score of A.

Franchise Group is currently trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 10.52 while its PEG ratio sits at 0.70. Both of the company's metrics compare favorably to its industry's average P/E of 21.98 and average PEG ratio of 1.27.

FRG's price-to-earnings ratio has been as high as 14.14 and as low as 8.77, with a median of 10.29, while its PEG ratio has been as high as 0.94 and as low as 0.58, with a median of 0.69, all within the past year.

Additionally, Franchise Group has a P/B ratio of 3.16 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 3.97. For FRG, this valuation metric has been as high as 4.22, as low as 2.23, with a median of 3.12 over the past year.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Edgewell Personal Care and Franchise Group are likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, EPC and FRG sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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