3 Undervalued Chemicals - Commodity Stocks for Wednesday, May 01 (2024)

Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.

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Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 3 undervalued stocks in the Chemicals - Commodity industry for Wednesday, May 01, 2024. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Chemicals - Commodity industry median.

The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.

The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)

Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).

As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.

Compass Minerals International, Inc. is a provider of essential minerals focused on safely delivering where and when it matters to help solve nature’s challenges for customers and communities. The Company’s segments include Salt and Plant Nutrition. The Salt segment produces and markets salt, consisting of sodium chloride and magnesium chloride, for use in road deicing for winter roadway safety and for dust control, food processing, water softeners and other consumer, agricultural and industrial applications. The Salt segment provides highway deicing salt to customers in North America and the United Kingdom. The Plant Nutrition segment produces and markets various grades of sulfate of potash, which is used in the production of specialty fertilizers for high-value crops and turf and helps improve the quality and yield of crops, while supporting sustainable agriculture. It operates 12 production and packaging facilities throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Compass Minerals International, Inc. has a Value Score of 74, which is considered to be undervalued.

When you look at Compass Minerals International, Inc.’s price-to-sales ratio at 0.43 compared to the industry median at 0.95, this company has a lower price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make Compass Minerals International, Inc.’s stock more attractive for value investors.

Now, let’s assess Compass Minerals International, Inc.’s EV/EBITDA ratio, also known as enterprise multiple. At 10.7, when compared to the industry median of 10.9, the company may be considered undervalued in relation to its peers. Value investors could use the enterprise multiple to identify stocks that are considered overvalued or undervalued relative to their industry.

Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. Compass Minerals International, Inc.’s shareholder yield is higher than its industry median ratio of 1.01%. Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.

As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. Compass Minerals International, Inc.’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 2.35. This could make Compass Minerals International, Inc. more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

Danimer Scientific, Inc. is a performance polymer company. The Company specializes in bioplastic replacements for traditional petroleum-based plastics. Its technologies include Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)-based Resins, Polylactic acid (PLA)-based Resins and Rinnovo. It harvests the PHA from the bacteria, then purifies and filters the bioplastic before forming the non-formulated PHA into pellets. Its PHA is a naturally occurring bioplastic that effectively biodegrades in both anaerobic environments, such as a waste treatment facility, and aerobic environments. It sells the PHA under its proprietary Nodax brand name. PLA is made from dextrose derived from corn, sugar beets and sugar cane, among other sources. Applications for biopolymers include additives, aqueous coatings, fibers, filaments, films, thermoforming, and injection-molded articles. The Company primarily markets its products to consumer packaging brand owners, converters and manufacturers in the plastics industry.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Danimer Scientific Inc has a Value Score of 70, which is considered to be undervalued.

Danimer Scientific Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Danimer Scientific Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 2.35.

You can read more about Danimer Scientific Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Methanex Corporation is a Canada-based producer and supplier of methanol to international markets. The Company supplies methanol to international markets in North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and South America. Its operations consist of the production and sale of methanol, a commodity chemical. It operates production sites in Canada, Chile, Egypt, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States. It has three plants in New Zealand, Motunui 1, Motunui 2 and Waitara Valley. Its two plants in Geismar serve customers in methanol markets. It has two plants in Trinidad, Titan and Atlas that supplies methanol to various methanol markets. Its Chile production site supplies methanol to customers in South America and Asia Pacific, having two plants in Chile, Chile I and Chile IV. Its Egypt plant is located on the Mediterranean Sea and primarily supply methanol to the domestic and European market. Its plant in Medicine Hat, Alberta, supplies methanol to customers in North America.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Methanex Corp (USA) has a Value Score of 66, which is considered to be undervalued.

Methanex Corp (USA)’s price-earnings ratio is 19.4 compared to the industry median at 19.5. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Methanex Corp (USA) more attractive for value investors.

Methanex Corp (USA)’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Methanex Corp (USA) less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 2.35.

You can read more about Methanex Corp (USA)’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.

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Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 3 undervalued stocks in the Chemicals - Commodity industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.

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