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Should Value Investors Buy Sumitomo (SSUMY) 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 Sumitomo (SSUMY - Free Report) . SSUMY is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 7.89, which compares to its industry's average of 15.85. SSUMY's Forward P/E has been as high as 10.61 and as low as 6.86, with a median of 8.56, all within the past year.

We also note that SSUMY holds a PEG ratio of 0.47. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. SSUMY's industry has an average PEG of 0.63 right now. Over the past 52 weeks, SSUMY's PEG has been as high as 8.27 and as low as 0.16, with a median of 0.19.

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. SSUMY has a P/S ratio of 0.62. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.06.

Finally, we should also recognize that SSUMY has a P/CF ratio of 7.24. 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. SSUMY's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 21.57. Over the past year, SSUMY's P/CF has been as high as 11.18 and as low as 5.61, with a median of 6.71.

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


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