Should Value Investors Buy Prudential Financial (PRU) Stock?

Zacks
31 Dec 2024

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 use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

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.

One stock to keep an eye on is Prudential Financial (PRU). PRU is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 8.12 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 8.87. Over the last 12 months, PRU's Forward P/E has been as high as 9.10 and as low as 7.52, with a median of 8.39.

We should also highlight that PRU has a P/B ratio of 1.32. 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. PRU's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 2.31. Over the past year, PRU's P/B has been as high as 1.55 and as low as 1.26, with a median of 1.40.

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 prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. PRU has a P/S ratio of 0.62. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.

Finally, our model also underscores that PRU has a P/CF ratio of 9.41. 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. PRU's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 12.23. PRU's P/CF has been as high as 18.19 and as low as 9.06, with a median of 14.17, all within the past year.

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

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Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

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