Should Value Investors Buy Sonoco (SON) 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, 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.
On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.
One company value investors might notice is Sonoco (SON). SON is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as an A grade for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 10.18 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 14.49. Over the past 52 weeks, SON's Forward P/E has been as high as 11.34 and as low as 8.85, with a median of 10.19.
SON is also sporting a PEG ratio of 2.01. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. SON's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 3. Over the last 12 months, SON's PEG has been as high as 2.27 and as low as 1.77, with a median of 2.04.
Value investors also love the P/S ratio, which is calculated by simply dividing a stock's price with the company's sales. Some people prefer this metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement. This means it could be a truer performance indicator. SON has a P/S ratio of 0.81. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.97.
Finally, our model also underscores that SON has a P/CF ratio of 7.53. 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 stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 26.38. SON's P/CF has been as high as 8.22 and as low as 6.06, with a median of 6.92, all within the past year.
These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Sonoco is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, SON feels like a great value stock at the moment.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Sonoco Products Company (SON) : Free Stock Analysis Report