Is Northwest Natural (NWN) Stock Undervalued 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.Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors use a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.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 company to watch right now is Northwest Natural (NWN). NWN is currently holding a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 13.94 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 21.30. Over the last 12 months, NWN's Forward P/E has been as high as 17.00 and as low as 13.15, with a median of 13.99. We should also highlight that NWN has a P/B ratio of 1.17. The P/B is a method of comparing a stock's market value to its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. This stock's P/B looks attractive against its industry's average P/B of 1.41. NWN's P/B has been as high as 1.25 and as low as 1.09, with a median of 1.15, over the past year.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. NWN has a P/S ratio of 1.44. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.71.Finally, our model also underscores that NWN has a P/CF ratio of 6.05. 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 10.53. Over the past 52 weeks, NWN's P/CF has been as high as 7.39 and as low as 5.62, with a median of 6.55.Value investors will likely look at more than just these metrics, but the above data helps show that Northwest Natural is likely undervalued currently. And when considering the strength of its earnings outlook, NWN sticks out as one of the market's strongest value stocks.5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in the coming year. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +112%, +171%, +209% and +232%.Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>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 Northwest Natural Gas Company (NWN): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks