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Are Investors Undervaluing These Oils-Energy Stocks Right Now?

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Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.

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.

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 Comstock Resources (CRK - Free Report) . CRK is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 5.89, while its industry has an average P/E of 8.24. CRK's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.44 and as low as 3.24, with a median of 5.23, all within the past year.

Another notable valuation metric for CRK is its P/B ratio of 3. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus 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 3.23. Over the past 12 months, CRK's P/B has been as high as 3.87 and as low as 0.98, with a median of 1.79.

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. CRK has a P/S ratio of 1.76. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.8.

Investors could also keep in mind SM Energy (SM - Free Report) , an Oil and Gas - Exploration and Production - United States stock with a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) and Value grade of A.

Shares of SM Energy currently holds a Forward P/E ratio of 5.39, and its PEG ratio is -1.64. In comparison, its industry sports average P/E and PEG ratios of 8.24 and 0.22.

Additionally, SM Energy has a P/B ratio of 2.29 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 3.23. For SM, this valuation metric has been as high as 2.79, as low as 0.92, with a median of 1.92 over the past year.

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


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