Should Value Investors Buy Northwest Natural (NWN) 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 a variety of methods, including tried-and-true valuation metrics, to find these stocks.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 company to watch right now is Northwest Natural (NWN). NWN is currently holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 14.01 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 15.13. Over the past 52 weeks, NWN's Forward P/E has been as high as 17 and as low as 13.15, with a median of 14.33.Another valuation metric that we should highlight is NWN's P/B ratio of 1.13. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. NWN's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.18. Over the past year, NWN's P/B has been as high as 1.25 and as low as 0.99, with a median of 1.15.Value investors also use the P/S ratio. The P/S ratio is is calculated as price divided by sales. This is a prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. NWN has a P/S ratio of 1.35. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.58.Finally, we should also recognize that NWN has a P/CF ratio of 6.04. 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. NWN's current P/CF looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 8.52. Within the past 12 months, NWN's P/CF has been as high as 7.39 and as low as 5.86, with a median of 6.83.These figures are just a handful of the metrics value investors tend to look at, but they help show that Northwest Natural is likely being undervalued right now. Considering this, as well as the strength of its earnings outlook, NWN feels like a great value stock at the moment.Zacks' Research Chief Names "Stock Most Likely to Double"Our team of experts has just released the 5 stocks with the greatest probability of gaining +100% or more in the coming months. Of those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian highlights the one stock set to climb highest.This top pick is among the most innovative financial firms. With a fast-growing customer base (already 50+ million) and a diverse set of cutting edge solutions, this stock is poised for big gains. Of course, all our elite picks aren’t winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Nano-X Imaging which shot up +129.6% in little more than 9 months.Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners UpWant 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