Should Value Investors Pick Owens Corning (OC) Stock?

Value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. After all, who wouldn’t want to find stocks that are either flying under the radar and are compelling buys, or offer up tantalizing discounts when compared to fair value?

One way to find these companies is by looking at several key metrics and financial ratios, many of which are crucial in the value stock selection process. Let’s put Owens Corning (NYSE:OC) stock into this equation and find out if it is a good choice for value-oriented investors right now, or if investors subscribing to this methodology should look elsewhere for top picks:

PE Ratio

A key metric that value investors always look at is the Price to Earnings Ratio, or PE for short. This shows us how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings in a given stock, and is easily one of the most popular financial ratios in the world. The best use of the PE ratio is to compare the stock’s current PE ratio with: a) where this ratio has been in the past; b) how it compares to the average for the industry/sector; and c) how it compares to the market as a whole.

On this front, Owens Corning has a trailing twelve months PE ratio of 20.6, as you can see in the chart below:

This level compares favorably with the market at large, as the PE ratio for the S&P 500 comes in at about 20.8. Moreover, the current level is fairly below the highs for this stock, suggesting it might be a good entry point.

However, the stock’s PE also compares unfavorably with its industry’s trailing twelve months PE ratio, which stands at 19.2. At the very least, this indicates that the stock is relatively overvalued right now, compared to its peers.

We should also point out that Owens Corning has a forward PE ratio (price relative to this year’s earnings) of 18.5 –lower than the current level. Thus, it is fair to say that a slightly more value-oriented path may be ahead for Owens Corning stock in the near term.

PS Ratio

Another key metric to note is the Price/Sales ratio. This approach compares a given stock’s price to its total sales, where a lower reading is generally considered better. Some people like this metric more than other value-focused ones because it looks at sales, something that is far harder to manipulate with accounting tricks than earnings.

Right now, Owens Corning has a P/S ratio of about 1.5. This is a lower than the S&P 500 average, which comes in at 3.3 right now. However, as we can see in the chart below, this is well among highs for this stock in particular over the past few years.



As OC is actually in the higher zone of its trading range in the time period per the P/S metric, this suggests that the company’s stock price has already appreciated to some degree, relative to its sales.

Broad Value Outlook

In aggregate, Owens Corning currently has a Zacks Value Style Score of A, putting it into the top 20% of all stocks we cover from this look. This makes Owens Corning a solid choice for value investors, and some of its other key metrics make this pretty clear too.

For example, its PEG ratio (used to compare a stock's market value to its book value) stands at 1.3, lower than the industry average of 1.7.

What About the Stock Overall?

Though Owens Corning might be a good choice for value investors, there are plenty of other factors to consider before investing in this name. In particular, it is worth noting that the company has a Growth grade of B and a Momentum score of D. This gives OC a Zacks VGM score—or its overarching fundamental grade—of A. (You can read more about the Zacks Style Scores here >>)

Meanwhile, the company’s recent earnings estimates have been trending upwards lately. The current year and next has seen ten estimates go higher in the past 60 days compared to none lower.

This has had just a small impact on the consensus estimate though as the current year consensus estimate has increased 0.2% in the past month, while the next year estimate has inched higher by 0.6%. You can see the consensus estimate trend and recent price action for the stock in the chart below:

Owens Corning Inc Price and Consensus

This positive trend signifies bullish analyst sentiment, and its Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) indicates robust fundamentals and expectations of outperformance in the near term.

Bottom Line

Owens Corning is an inspired choice for value investors, as it is hard to beat its incredible lineup of statistics on this front. However, a sluggish industry rank (bottom 17% out of more than 250 industries) somewhat dims the sparkle over this company.

So, value investors might want to wait for the broader factors to turn around in this name first, but once that happens, this stock could be a compelling pick.

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