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 rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

One company value investors might notice is Macy's (M). M is currently sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 9.15, while its industry has an average P/E of 14.99. 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 valuation metric that we should highlight is M's P/B ratio of 1.06. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. M's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.36. M's P/B has been as high as 1.21 and as low as 0.61, with a median of 0.86, over the past year.

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 8.20. 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.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Macy's's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, M looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.

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

Zacks Investment Research

Source Zacks-com