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Are Investors Undervaluing Consol Energy (CEIX) 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, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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 stock to keep an eye on is Consol Energy (CEIX - Free Report) . CEIX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. CEIX has a P/S ratio of 1.04. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.2.

Finally, we should also recognize that CEIX has a P/CF ratio of 5.03. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 5.51. CEIX's P/CF has been as high as 7.63 and as low as 1.19, with a median of 3.17, all within the past year.

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


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