Is Clearwater Paper (CLW) Stock Undervalued 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.

One company to watch right now is Clearwater Paper (CLW). CLW is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as an A grade for Value.

Another valuation metric that we should highlight is CLW's P/B ratio of 1.40. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against 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 4.08. CLW's P/B has been as high as 1.43 and as low as 0.52, with a median of 1.19, 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. This is a popular metric because sales are harder to manipulate on an income statement, so they are often considered a better performance indicator. CLW has a P/S ratio of 0.36. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 0.47.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Clearwater Paper's strong Value grade, but they help show that the stock is likely undervalued right now. When factoring in the strength of its earnings outlook, CLW looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.


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