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Are Investors Undervaluing Sonoco (SON) Right Now?

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The proven Zacks Rank system focuses on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find winning stocks. Nevertheless, we know that our readers all have their own perspectives, so we are always looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong picks.

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 stock to keep an eye on is Sonoco (SON - Free Report) . SON is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 10.03, which compares to its industry's average of 13.13. Over the past year, SON's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.76 and as low as 9.10, with a median of 10.10.

Investors will also notice that SON has a PEG ratio of 2.01. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. SON's industry currently sports an average PEG of 2.36. Over the past 52 weeks, SON's PEG has been as high as 2.15 and as low as 1.82, with a median of 2.02.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's 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. SON has a P/S ratio of 0.8. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.88.

Finally, our model also underscores that SON has a P/CF ratio of 6.69. 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. SON's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 20.22. Over the past year, SON's P/CF has been as high as 8.52 and as low as 6.06, with a median of 7.20.

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


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