Should Value Investors Buy Macy's (M) Stock?

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, 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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.

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.

Macy's (M) is a stock many investors are watching right now. M is currently holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 9.15 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 14.46. Over the last 12 months, M's Forward P/E has been as high as 9.61 and as low as 4.69, with a median of 6.13.

Another notable valuation metric for M is its P/B ratio of 1.06. 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 company's current P/B looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.22. Within the past 52 weeks, M's P/B has been as high as 1.21 and as low as 0.61, with a median of 0.86.

Finally, our model also underscores that M has a P/CF ratio of 3.47. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. M's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 7.53. M's P/CF has been as high as 5.04 and as low as 1.92, with a median of 2.70, all within the past year.

Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Macy's is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, M sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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