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Are Investors Undervaluing Heritage Insurance (HRTG) 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, 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.

Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.

Heritage Insurance (HRTG - Free Report) is a stock many investors are watching right now. HRTG is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A.

Another notable valuation metric for HRTG is its P/B ratio of 1.06. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with 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 1.57. Within the past 52 weeks, HRTG's P/B has been as high as 1.91 and as low as 0.73, with a median of 1.09.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's 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. HRTG has a P/S ratio of 0.41. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.14.

Finally, we should also recognize that HRTG has a P/CF ratio of 4.80. 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. HRTG's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 10.38. HRTG's P/CF has been as high as 7.49 and as low as -41.09, with a median of 4.42, all within the past year.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Heritage Insurance's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that HRTG is an impressive value stock right now.


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