A Trio of Stocks With Attractive Forward Price-Earnings Ratios
- By Alberto Abaterusso
Value investors could be interested in the following three companies, as their stocks have forward price-earnings ratios that are trading below the S&P 500's historical average of 15. The projections of future earnings are based on data from Morningstar analysts.
Prudential PLC
The first stock that makes the cut is Prudential PLC (NYSE:PUK), a London, United Kingdom-based life insurance company, providing several long-term savings and protection products to its clients internationally.
Prudential has a forward price-earnings ratio of 10.35 (versus the industry median of 11.41), which results from Friday's closing price of $34.28 per share and analyst expectations for net earnings per share (EPS) of approximately $3.31 for the next full fiscal year.
The stock price has fallen by 10.57% over the past year for a market capitalization of $45.09 billion and a 52-week range of $15.68 to $39.10.
GuruFocus has assigned a score of 5 out of 10 for both the financial strength rating and profitability rating of the company.
As of December, Wall Street sell-side analysts recommend two strong buy ratings for the stock with an average price target of $42 per share.
Sun Life Financial Inc
The second stock that qualifies is Sun Life Financial Inc (NYSE:SLF), a Toronto, Canada-based provider of several financial services such as asset management, insurance and wealth management to North American and international clients.
Sun Life Financial has a forward price-earnings ratio of 9.7 (versus the industry median of 11.41), which derives from Friday's closing price of $44.52 per share and analyst expectations for EPS of approximately $4.59 for the next full fiscal year.
The stock price has fallen by nearly 1.02% over the past year for a market capitalization of $26.10 billion and a 52-week range of $24.37 to $50.13.
GuruFocus has assigned a score of 5 out of 10 for both the financial strength rating and profitability rating of the company.
As of December, Wall Street sell-side analysts recommend one strong buy rating and one buy rating for the stock with an average price target of $45.65 per share.
China Telecom Corp
The third stock that meets the criteria is China Telecom Corp Ltd (NYSE:CHA), a Hong Kong-based provider of various telecommunication services in the People's Republic of China.
China Telecom has a forward price-earnings ratio of 6.61 (versus the industry median of 18.87), which derives from Friday's closing price of $27.43 per share and analysts' expectations for EPS of approximately $4.15 for the next full fiscal year.
The stock price has declined by 30.64% over the past year for a market capitalization of $22.20 billion and a 52-week range of $26.66 to $41.89.
GuruFocus has assigned a rating of 5 out of 10 for the company's financial strength and a rating of 6 out of 10 for its profitability.
As of December, Wall Street sell-side analysts recommend two strong buy ratings for the stock with an average price target of $43.77 per share.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any securities mentioned.
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This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
