Are Investors Undervaluing Lincoln National (LNC) Right Now?

While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.

Of these, perhaps no stock market trend is more popular than value investing, which is a strategy that has proven to be successful in all sorts of market environments. Value investors use fundamental analysis and traditional valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are being undervalued by the market at large.

On top of the Zacks Rank, investors can also look at our innovative Style Scores system to find stocks with specific traits. For example, value investors will want to focus on the "Value" category. Stocks with high Zacks Ranks and "A" grades for Value will be some of the highest-quality value stocks on the market today.

One company value investors might notice is Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC). LNC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock has a Forward P/E ratio of 5.75. This compares to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.41. Over the last 12 months, LNC's Forward P/E has been as high as 8.97 and as low as 5.18, with a median of 6.15.

LNC is also sporting a PEG ratio of 0.64. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. LNC's industry has an average PEG of 0.90 right now. Over the last 12 months, LNC's PEG has been as high as 1 and as low as 0.58, with a median of 0.68.

Finally, investors will want to recognize that LNC has a P/CF ratio of 13.93. This metric focuses on a firm's operating cash flow and is often used to find stocks that are undervalued based on the strength of their cash outlook. LNC's P/CF compares to its industry's average P/CF of 15.68. Over the past 52 weeks, LNC's P/CF has been as high as 15.47 and as low as 7.11, with a median of 8.99.

These are only a few of the key metrics included in Lincoln National'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, LNC looks like an impressive value stock at the moment.