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Is Crestwood Equity Partners (CEQP) a Great Value Stock 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, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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 value investors might notice is Crestwood Equity Partners . CEQP is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CEQP's P/B ratio of 1.32. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against 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 1.71. CEQP's P/B has been as high as 2.14 and as low as 1.28, with a median of 1.80, over the past year.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. CEQP has a P/S ratio of 0.46. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.07.

Finally, we should also recognize that CEQP has a P/CF ratio of 7.31. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 7.61. CEQP's P/CF has been as high as 16.02 and as low as 7.06, with a median of 11.11, all within the past year.

Investors could also keep in mind Plains All American Pipeline (PAA - Free Report) , an Oil and Gas - Production Pipeline - MLB stock with a Zacks Rank of # 1 (Strong Buy) and Value grade of A.

Plains All American Pipeline sports a P/B ratio of 0.68 as well; this compares to its industry's price-to-book ratio of 1.71. In the past 52 weeks, PAA's P/B has been as high as 1.15, as low as 0.63, with a median of 0.79.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Crestwood Equity Partners and Plains All American Pipeline strong Value grade, but they help show that the stocks are likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, CEQP and PAA look like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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