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Is Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Stock Undervalued 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.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader 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.

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 company to watch right now is Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII - Free Report) . HII 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 15.43 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 21.91. Over the last 12 months, HII's Forward P/E has been as high as 17.82 and as low as 12.54, with a median of 14.20.

Another notable valuation metric for HII is its P/B ratio of 2.72. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to 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 3.34. Over the past year, HII's P/B has been as high as 2.77 and as low as 2.13, with a median of 2.45.

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. HII has a P/S ratio of 0.91. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.67.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that HII has a P/CF ratio of 11.45. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 22.23. Over the past year, HII's P/CF has been as high as 11.66 and as low as 8.23, with a median of 9.47.

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


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