Below book value stocks are known in the investment world as “cheap.” That’s not because of a low price. It’s because below book means a stock price that’s less than what’s left after a company’s total liabilities are substracted from its total assets. With the stock market’s present overvaluation, there aren’t many of these to research.
None of these have price-earnings ratios of over 20. Not a perfect measure of valuation, but it’s one way for an investor to quickly determine what’s what, along with other criteria. The current inflation-adjusted p/e for the S&P 500 is 38.96, the highest level since the late 90s/early 2000s dot com mania.
5 Below Book Value, Low P/E Stocks Paying Dividends
This specialty insurance company is based in Bermuda. The company provides guarantees on principal and interest payments for municipal, public infrastructure and structured financing. They recently insured $600 million “in Third Transaction for JFK International Airport’s new Terminal One project.”
The stock trades at 75% of its book value. The price-earnings ratio is 10. This year’s earnings are up 11.74% and up over the past five years by 11.62%. Market cap is $4.14 billion. The company pays a 1.61% dividend. On July 9, Keefe Bruyette upgraded Assured from “market perform” to “outperform” with a price target of $92.
The farm products company just hit a new high. It trades at a 14% discount to book value with a price-earnings ratio of 11.79. Fresh Del Monte pays a dividend of 3.05%. Earnings this year are up 6.61% and up over the past five years by 16.59%. Market cap is $1.73 billion. The stock is a member of the Russell 2000 small caps ETF.
The company calls itself “a leading credit technology empowered financial service enabler.” Based in Shenzhen, China, the NYSE-traded ADR can be purchased at 54% of book value. The price-earnings ratio is 5.95. Earnings this year are up 254% and down over the past five years by 13.56%. LexinFintech pays a 6.67% dividend.
This internet content business has corporate offices in Beijing and Singapore. This is another NYSE-traded ADR and it’s going for a 12% discount to book. The price-earnings ratio is 7.98. This year’s earnings are up 171%. Over the past five years EPS declined by 17.88%. Hello Group pays a dividend of 1.26%. Market cap is $1.02 billion.
The Luxembourg-based steel company now trades at a 49% discount to its book value. The price-earnings ratio is 19.82. Market cap is $25.29 billion. Earnings are up 172% this year and down 49% over the past five years. ArcelorMittal offers investors a 1.67% dividend.
Stats courtesy of FinViz.com. Charts courtesy of Stockcharts.com.
No artificial intelligence was used in the writing of this post.
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