Yahoo Finance Should Value Investors Buy Banco Santander (SAN) Stock?
Here at Zacks, we focus on our proven ranking system, which places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, to find winning stocks. But we also understand that investors develop their own strategies, so we are constantly looking at the latest trends in value, growth, and momentum to find strong companies for our readers.
Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use tried-and-true metrics and fundamental analysis to find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.
Zacks has developed the innovative Style Scores system to highlight stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will be interested in stocks with great grades in the "Value" category. When paired with a high Zacks Rank, "A" grades in the Value category are among the strongest value stocks on the market today.
One company to watch right now is Banco Santander (SAN). SAN is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock holds a P/E ratio of 6.18, while its industry has an average P/E of 8.23. Over the past year, SAN's Forward P/E has been as high as 7.89 and as low as 4.19, with a median of 5.21.
Another valuation metric that we should highlight is SAN's P/B ratio of 0.59. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with 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 1.59. Over the past 12 months, SAN's P/B has been as high as 0.60 and as low as 0.37, with a median of 0.46.
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. SAN has a P/S ratio of 1.13. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.47.
Finally, investors will want to recognize that SAN has a P/CF ratio of 4.60. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. SAN's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 14.48. Over the past 52 weeks, SAN's P/CF has been as high as 5.67 and as low as 3.04, with a median of 3.80.
These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Banco Santander is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, SAN feels like a great value stock at the moment.
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Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
