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Should Value Investors Buy Tenet Healthcare (THC) Stock?

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Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore 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 tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

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.

One company value investors might notice is Tenet Healthcare (THC - Free Report) . THC is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 14.44 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 15.22. Over the past year, THC's Forward P/E has been as high as 18.48 and as low as 8.31, with a median of 14.47.

Investors will also notice that THC has a PEG ratio of 0.79. 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. THC's industry currently sports an average PEG of 1.12. Within the past year, THC's PEG has been as high as 5.07 and as low as 0.76, with a median of 1.92.

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. THC has a P/S ratio of 0.7. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.98.

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


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