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Are These Finance Stocks Undervalued 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 tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

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 Greenhill & Co. . GHL 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 7.11 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 12.12. GHL's Forward P/E has been as high as 12 and as low as 7, with a median of 8.29, all within the past year.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by 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. GHL has a P/S ratio of 0.93. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.74.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that GHL has a P/CF ratio of 8.22. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. GHL's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 16.16. Within the past 12 months, GHL's P/CF has been as high as 12.35 and as low as 4.28, with a median of 6.18.

Piper Sandler Companies (PIPR - Free Report) may be another strong Financial - Investment Bank stock to add to your shortlist. PIPR is a # 2 (Buy) stock with a Value grade of A.

Piper Sandler Companies sports a P/B ratio of 1.81 as well; this compares to its industry's price-to-book ratio of 2.35. In the past 52 weeks, PIPR's P/B has been as high as 3.06, as low as 1.81, with a median of 2.31.

These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Greenhill & Co. and Piper Sandler Companies are likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, GHL and PIPR feels like a great value stock at the moment.


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