Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Are Investors Undervaluing Panasonic (PCRFY) Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

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.

In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.

One company to watch right now is Panasonic . PCRFY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 9.41, which compares to its industry's average of 15.46. Over the last 12 months, PCRFY's Forward P/E has been as high as 15.53 and as low as 8.82, with a median of 11.48.

Another notable valuation metric for PCRFY is its P/B ratio of 0.76. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.82. PCRFY's P/B has been as high as 1.01 and as low as 0.66, with a median of 0.83, over the past year.

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. PCRFY has a P/S ratio of 0.37. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.53.

Finally, we should also recognize that PCRFY has a P/CF ratio of 4.69. 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 6.39. Over the past 52 weeks, PCRFY's P/CF has been as high as 5.66 and as low as 3.97, with a median of 4.46.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Panasonic's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, PCRFY looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.

Published in