Yahoo Finance Are Investors Undervaluing East West Bancorp (EWBC) Right Now?
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 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.
East West Bancorp (EWBC) is a stock many investors are watching right now. EWBC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 8.34 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 10.65. Over the last 12 months, EWBC's Forward P/E has been as high as 13.44 and as low as 7.22, with a median of 8.54.
We also note that EWBC holds a PEG ratio of 0.83. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. EWBC's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 0.87. Over the past 52 weeks, EWBC's PEG has been as high as 1.34 and as low as 0.72, with a median of 0.85.
Finally, investors should note that EWBC has a P/CF ratio of 8.39. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. EWBC's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 9.23. Over the past year, EWBC's P/CF has been as high as 11.99 and as low as 7.24, with a median of 8.83.
Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that East West Bancorp is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, EWBC sticks out at as one of the market's strongest value stocks.
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East West Bancorp, Inc. (EWBC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
