Is CNO Financial Group (CNO) a Great Value Stock Right Now?
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.
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.
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 stock to keep an eye on is CNO Financial Group (CNO). CNO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 9.31, while its industry has an average P/E of 10.16. CNO's Forward P/E has been as high as 11.12 and as low as 7.24, with a median of 8.30, all within the past year.
Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CNO's P/B ratio of 1.67. 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 2.64. Over the past year, CNO's P/B has been as high as 2.13 and as low as 1.15, with a median of 1.40.
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. CNO has a P/S ratio of 0.79. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.93.
Investors could also keep in mind Mnchener RckversicherungsGesellschaft (MURGY), an Insurance - Multi line stock with a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) and Value grade of A.
Mnchener RckversicherungsGesellschaft is trading at a forward earnings multiple of 9.93 at the moment, with a PEG ratio of 2.21. This compares to its industry's average P/E of 10.16 and average PEG ratio of 0.94.
MURGY's Forward P/E has been as high as 13.63 and as low as 9.30, with a median of 10.01. During the same time period, its PEG ratio has been as high as 2.35, as low as 0.47, with a median of 1.81.
Additionally, Mnchener RckversicherungsGesellschaft has a P/B ratio of 1.90 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 2.64. For MURGY, this valuation metric has been as high as 2.35, as low as 1.63, with a median of 1.95 over the past year.
These are just a handful of the figures considered in CNO Financial Group and Mnchener RckversicherungsGesellschaft'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 CNO and MURGY is an impressive value stock right now.
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CNO Financial Group, Inc. (CNO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
M?nchener R?ckversicherungs-Gesellschaft (MURGY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
