Is Range Resources (RRC) 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.

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.

Range Resources (RRC) is a stock many investors are watching right now. RRC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 11.01, which compares to its industry's average of 11.20. Over the past 52 weeks, RRC's Forward P/E has been as high as 36.06 and as low as 11.01, with a median of 16.33.

Investors should also recognize that RRC has a P/B ratio of 0.66. 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 solid versus its industry's average P/B of 1.96. Over the past 12 months, RRC's P/B has been as high as 0.86 and as low as 0.55, with a median of 0.69.

Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. RRC has a P/S ratio of 1.34. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 2.1.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that RRC has a P/CF ratio of 4.12. This metric takes into account a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find stocks that are undervalued based on their solid cash outlook. RRC's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 6.25. Within the past 12 months, RRC's P/CF has been as high as 7.45 and as low as 3.04, with a median of 4.48.

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

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