Are Investors Undervaluing Global Ship Lease (GSL) 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 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 Global Ship Lease (GSL). GSL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 2.17, which compares to its industry's average of 4.06. Over the past year, GSL's Forward P/E has been as high as 6.06 and as low as 2.04, with a median of 3.25.

Another notable valuation metric for GSL is its P/B ratio of 0.77. 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 attractive against its industry's average P/B of 1.23. GSL's P/B has been as high as 1.54 and as low as 0.66, with a median of 1.21, 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 prefered metric because revenue can't really be manipulated, so sales are often a truer performance indicator. GSL has a P/S ratio of 1.03. This compares to its industry's average P/S of 1.15.

Finally, our model also underscores that GSL has a P/CF ratio of 2.26. This figure highlights a company's operating cash flow and can be used to find firms that are undervalued when considering their impressive cash outlook. This company's current P/CF looks solid when compared to its industry's average P/CF of 2.65. GSL's P/CF has been as high as 7.27 and as low as 1.94, with a median of 4.52, all within the past year.

Tsakos Energy Navigation (TNP) may be another strong Transportation - Shipping stock to add to your shortlist. TNP is a # 1 (Strong Buy) stock with a Value grade of A.

Additionally, Tsakos Energy Navigation has a P/B ratio of 0.22 while its industry's price-to-book ratio sits at 1.23. For TNP, this valuation metric has been as high as 0.23, as low as 0.09, with a median of 0.13 over the past year.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in Global Ship Lease and Tsakos Energy Navigation'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 GSL and TNP is an impressive value stock right now.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.