To increase your chances of discovering value opportunities, one method is to screen the market for stocks with lower trailing 12-month price-to-free-cash-flow ratios than that of the S&P 500 Index, which stands at around 15.63 as of the time of writing.
Therefore, investors could be interested in the following stocks, as they meet the above criteria and are recommended by sell-side analysts on Wall Street.
PetroChina Co Ltd
The first stock investors could be interested in is PetroChina Co Ltd (PTR, Financial), a Beijing, China-based oil and gas corporation.
PetroChina Co Ltd.’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio is about 1.75, ranking lower than 70% of 569 companies that operate in the oil and gas industry.
The free cash flow per share for the trailing 12 months ended September 2021 stood at $29.17.
Following a 44.9% increase over the past year, the stock closed at $54.08 per share on Monday for a market capitalization of $93.21 billion and a 52-week range of $32.07 to $55.18.
The company pays semi-annual dividends. The last payment of $2.012 per share was made on Nov. 8, 2021.
On Wall Street, the stock has a median recommendation rating of overweight with an average target price of approximately $66.40 per share.
Capital One Financial Corp
The second stock investors could be interested in is Capital One Financial Corp. (COF, Financial), a McLean, Virginia-based provider of financial and credit services to consumers and commercial clients in North America and the U.K.
Capital One Financial Corp.'s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio is 6.23, ranking higher than 51% of the 234 companies that operate in the credit services industry.
The company's free cash flow per share for the trailing 12 months ended in September 2021 was $25.56.
Following a 33.01% increase that occurred over the past year, the stock was trading at $155.14 per share at close on Monday for a market capitalization of $65.93 billion and a 52-week range of $115.31 to $177.95.
The company pays quarterly dividends. The last payment of 60 cents per share was made on Feb. 25.
On Wall Street, the stock has a median recommendation rating of overweight with an average target price of $184.47 per share.
AutoZone Inc.
The third stock investors could be interested in is AutoZone Inc. (AZO, Financial), a Memphis, Tennessee-based retailer and distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories.
AutoZone Inc.’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio is about 14.17, ranking lower than 61% of 700 companies that operate in the retail-cyclical industry.
The company's free cash flow per share for the trailing 12 months ended in November 2021 was $136.07.
The stock is up 63.89% over the past year to close Monday at $1,924.60 per share for a market cap of $39.79 billion and a 52-week range of $1,143 to $2,110.
AutoZone Inc. does not pay dividends.
On Wall Street, the stock has a median recommendation rating of overweight and an average target price of $2,186.72 per share.
