Overview Of Value Stocks In The Consumer Defensive Sector

What is a Value Stock?

A value stock traditionally has a lower price when compared to stock prices of companies in the same industry. This indicates that the company may be undervalued, as investors are not expressing as much interest in such companies. The most commonly used way to check for value is with the price-to-earnings multiple, or P/E. A low P/E multiple is a good indication that the stock is undervalued.

The following stocks are considered to be notable value stocks in the consumer defensive sector:

1. Graham Hldgs GHC - P/E: 8.9
2. Amcon Distributing DIT - P/E: 6.08
3. Hailiang Education Gr HLG - P/E: 4.42
4. Acme United ACU - P/E: 9.79
5. Seneca Foods SENEA - P/E: 8.35

Graham Hldgs has reported Q4 earnings per share at $8.55, which has increased by 14.92% compared to Q3, which was 7.44. The company's most recent dividend yield sits at 1.07%, which has increased by 0.03% from 1.04% last quarter.

Amcon Distributing's earnings per share for Q2 sits at $5.19, whereas in Q1, they were at 5.18. Hailiang Education Gr's earnings per share for Q4 sits at $0.8, whereas in Q3, they were at 0.64. Acme United saw a decrease in earnings per share from 0.6 in Q4 to $0.22 now. Most recently, the company reported a dividend yield of 1.54%, which has decreased by 0.08% from last quarter's yield of 1.62%.

Most recently, Seneca Foods reported earnings per share at $2.14, whereas in Q2 earnings per share sat at $1.31.

The Significance: A value stock may need some time to rebound from its undervalued position. The risk of investing in a value stock is that this emergence may never materialize.