Should Value Investors Buy Commercial Metals (CMC) Stock?

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 fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

In addition to the Zacks Rank, investors looking for stocks with specific traits can utilize our Style Scores system. Of course, value investors will be most interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with "A" grades for Value and high Zacks Ranks are among the best value stocks available at any given moment.

One company value investors might notice is Commercial Metals (CMC). CMC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CMC's P/B ratio of 1.85. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 1.96. Within the past 52 weeks, CMC's P/B has been as high as 2.03 and as low as 1.19, with a median of 1.46.

Finally, we should also recognize that CMC has a P/CF ratio of 8.41. 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. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 11.60. Over the past 52 weeks, CMC's P/CF has been as high as 9.75 and as low as 5.48, with a median of 7.04.

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

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