Is Macy's (M) 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.

Looking at the history of these trends, perhaps none is more beloved than value investing. This strategy simply looks to identify companies that are being undervalued by the broader market. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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 stock to keep an eye on is Macy's (M). M is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 7.57 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 11.60. Over the past 52 weeks, M's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.42 and as low as 5.30, with a median of 7.07.

M is also sporting a PEG ratio of 1.01. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. M's industry has an average PEG of 1.39 right now. Over the past 52 weeks, M's PEG has been as high as 1.04 and as low as 0.71, with a median of 0.90.

We should also highlight that M has a P/B ratio of 0.90. 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 1.30. Over the past 12 months, M's P/B has been as high as 1.40 and as low as 0.70, with a median of 1.03.

Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by 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. M has a P/S ratio of 0.21. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.25.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that M has a P/CF ratio of 2.84. 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. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 4.25. M's P/CF has been as high as 3.99 and as low as 2.25, with a median of 3.18, 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 at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.

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