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Should Value Investors Buy Pilgrim's Pride (PPC) Stock?

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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.

Considering these trends, value investing is clearly one of the most preferred ways to find strong stocks in any type of market. 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 Pilgrim's Pride (PPC - Free Report) . PPC 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 8.24 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 13.12. PPC's Forward P/E has been as high as 13.41 and as low as 7.67, with a median of 10.43, all within the past year.

Investors should also note that PPC holds a PEG ratio of 0.48. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. PPC's industry has an average PEG of 1.28 right now. Within the past year, PPC's PEG has been as high as 1.05 and as low as 0.28, with a median of 0.49.

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 popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. PPC has a P/S ratio of 0.42. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.53.

Finally, investors should note that PPC has a P/CF ratio of 6.13. 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 stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 8.42. PPC's P/CF has been as high as 22.06 and as low as 6.13, with a median of 14.31, all within the past year.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Pilgrim's Pride is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, PPC sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.


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