These 5 Below Book Value, Low P/E Stocks All Are Paying Dividends

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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

Assured Guaranty

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.

Fresh Del Monte Produce

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.

LexinFintech Holdings

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.

Hello Group

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.

ArcelorMittal

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.

More analysis and commentary at johnnavin.substack.com.