Is Annaly Capital Management (NLY) a Great Value Stock Right Now?

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 rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

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.

Annaly Capital Management (NLY) is a stock many investors are watching right now. NLY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and an A for Value. The stock is trading with P/E ratio of 6.68 right now. For comparison, its industry sports an average P/E of 9.68. Over the past year, NLY's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.53 and as low as 5.71, with a median of 7.38.

Investors will also notice that NLY has a PEG ratio of 1.34. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. NLY's PEG compares to its industry's average PEG of 1.96. Over the past 52 weeks, NLY's PEG has been as high as 1.70 and as low as 1.14, with a median of 1.43.

Investors should also recognize that NLY has a P/B ratio of 1.16. 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. NLY's current P/B looks attractive when compared to its industry's average P/B of 1.51. Over the past year, NLY's P/B has been as high as 1.17 and as low as 0.81, with a median of 0.99.

Finally, our model also underscores that NLY has a P/CF ratio of 4.36. This data point considers a firm's operating cash flow and is frequently used to find companies that are undervalued when considering their solid cash outlook. This stock's P/CF looks attractive against its industry's average P/CF of 9.51. Over the past year, NLY's P/CF has been as high as 5.42 and as low as 2.83, with a median of 3.41.

Another great REIT and Equity Trust stock you could consider is Western Asset Mortgage Capital (WMC), which is a # 2 (Buy) stock with a Value Score of A.

Additionally, Western Asset Mortgage Capital has a P/B ratio of 0.67 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 1.51. For WMC, this valuation metric has been as high as 0.81, as low as 0.43, with a median of 0.59 over the past year.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Annaly Capital Management and Western Asset Mortgage Capital's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that NLY and WMC is an impressive value stock right now.

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Annaly Capital Management Inc (NLY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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