The stock market continues to be volatile. After a strong rally in January, all major U.S. indices retreated in February, with the benchmark S&P 500 falling 2.6% during the month. While the ongoing churn is no doubt frustrating to investors, it presents a great time to buy undervalued stocks.
There are bargains to be found in the stock market as we near the end of the year’s first quarter. The broad-based decline in equities through most of last year means that some of the best-run and most dominant companies in the U.S. are trading at cheap multiples relative to their current and future earnings. In fact, the share prices of many highly profitable, market-leading companies are still down more than 20% from a year ago, in many cases erasing the gains that they achieved during the Covid-19 rally 0f 2020 and 2021.
This presents a huge buying opportunity for investors looking to put capital to work. While we may not have achieved a bottom just yet, there are plenty of undervalued stocks to buy at discounted prices.
Here are seven of the most undervalued stocks to buy now.
| GOOG, GOOGL | Alphabet | $94.65, $94.25 |
| HD | Home Depot | $291.49 |
| AMD | Advanced Micro Devices | $85.37 |
| BA | Boeing | $207.20 |
| PFE | Pfizer | $40.12 |
| TSLA | Tesla | $182.00 |
| DHR | Danaher | $247.76 |
Undervalued Stocks to Buy: Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL)
Trading with a price-earnings ratio of less than 20, shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) continue to look cheap among mega-cap tech stocks. The company’s most recent earnings report, released in February, didn’t help the stock any. The Mountain View, California-based company reported fourth-quarter results that missed on both the top and bottom lines as online advertising revenue slumped.
Specifically, the company continues to struggle with a pronounced slowdown in advertising at YouTube. Q4 ad revenue for the free video-sharing website that Alphabet owns came in at $7.96 billion compared to $8.25 billion expected on Wall Street. This was down 8% year over year.
Prior to the earnings whiff, Alphabet had announced several cost-cutting measures, including eliminating 12,000 jobs and plans to shelve its next-generation Pixelbook laptop computer. A poorly received AI-powered chatbot launch in February didn’t help matters.
However, for long-term investors, these short-term headwinds present an opportunity to pick up shares at a discount. The stock is down 25% over the past 12 months in one of the steepest pullbacks in the company’s history.
Home Depot (HD)
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) is another company whose stock has struggled in the wake of its most recent earnings print. At the end of February, the Atlanta-based company’s share price fell 7% immediately after it reported Q4 results and has continued lower in the weeks since.
The home improvement retail chain announced earnings of $3.30 per share, beating analyst estimates for $3.28 per share. However, revenue of $35.83 billion came up short of the $35.97 billion that had been forecast. It was the company’s first revenue miss since 2019. Home Depot blamed the lackluster results on falling lumber prices, which are about 50% lower compared with a year ago. In terms of forward guidance, Home Depot said it expects sales in 2023 to be flat.
While the company is dealing with the effects of inflation and a slowdown in the housing market, these trends will eventually reverse. HD stock is down 7.7% this year and nearly 10% over the past 12 months. Its P/E ratio of 17.5 is reasonable, and shareholders also benefit from a quarterly dividend payout of $2.09 per share, which equates to a better-than-average yield of 2.8%.
Undervalued Stocks to Buy: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
After a brutal 2022, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) has seen its stock rally 32% so far this year. However, despite the leg higher, the stock remains 17% below where it was trading a year ago and down 48% from its all-time high, made in November 2021. This presents an opportunity for investors to buy shares before the stock fully recovers and eventually tests new highs.
The Santa Clara, California-based semiconductor and microchip company’s most recent earnings were positive. AMD reported EPS of 69 cents versus the 67 cents expected on Wall Street. Revenue came in ahead of the $5.5 billion forecast at $5.6 billion. Management did, however, warn of headwinds, saying it expects a 10% decline in year-over-year sales for the current first quarter of 2022.
Still, investors should look past short-term headwinds. AMD is a top semiconductor stock that investors should buy while it remains on sale.
Boeing (BA)
Investors got a scare recently when aircraft manufacturer Boeing (NYSE:BA) announced that it was temporarily halting deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner due to a problem that has been detected with the airplane’s fuselage. The company said it won’t be able to resume deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner until it can demonstrate to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration that it has resolved the issue. This was the latest bad news from Boeing as the company attempts to recover from the grounding of its 737 Max aircraft following several high-profile crashes.
The cumulative effect has been to push BA stock sharply lower in recent years. While the company’s share price has risen 22.5% over the past year, it is more than 40% lower than where it was five years ago. Before the 737 Max crashes, Boeing’s stock was trading at $440 per share. Today, it’s closer to $200.
Investors willing to be patient with BA stock should consider that Boeing is part of a duopoly when it comes to aircraft manufacturing, as France’s Airbus SE (OTC:EADSY) is the only other company in the world that manufactures commercial airplanes.
Undervalued Stocks to Buy: Pfizer (PFE)
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) remains one of the world’s premier pharmaceutical companies, as well as one of the best undervalued stocks to buy now. The company makes several blockbuster drugs, including Lipitor to reduce cholesterol and Enbrel for arthritis. The company also continues to reap billions of dollars from its Covid-19 vaccine with global sales of $37.8 billion, including booster shots, in 2022. Despite this success, PFE stock continues to decline, having fallen 22% year to date.
While management is forecasting sales will decline in 2023, it comes after Pfizer booked $100.3 billion in 2022 sales, an all-time high for the New York City-based company. Pfizer is also developing a Covid-19 pill called Paxlovid that some analysts see as the company’s next blockbuster medication.
Finally, the stock’s P/E ratio is a modest 7.3, and the company pays a quarterly dividend of 41 cents a share for a yield of 4.1%. All of these reasons make Pfizer stock both undervalued and a worthy addition to any portfolio.
Tesla (TSLA)
While it might sound ridiculous to list electric vehicle maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) as an undervalued stock, the company’s share price has gone through an extreme correction and is only now recovering.
TSLA stock is up nearly 50% year to date amid a surge in investor interest. However, the stock remains down 32% from a year ago and is currently trading 53% below its 52-week high of $384.29. The stock’s P/E ratio remains high at 52.5, but it is a fraction of what it was during its blistering run during the pandemic.
While TSLA shareholders continue to fret about CEO Elon Musk being distracted by Twitter, the EV maker stunned Wall Street by reporting record fourth-quarter revenue of $24.32 billion and EPS of $1.19, which was 6 cents better than analysts expected. The company also continues to slash prices to spur demand around the world and has several new vehicles on the horizon, including its much-hyped Cybertruck which could support continued bullish momentum in the stock.
Undervalued Stocks to Buy: Danaher (DHR)
Danaher (NYSE:DHR) is another stock that investors should never count out. The life sciences company started by brothers Steven and Mitchell Rales is increasingly focused on life sciences research and making medical devices and products used by doctors to diagnose illnesses in patients.
DHR stock has been a long-term winner for shareholders. Over the past 20 years, shares are up more than 2,000% compared with a 366% return for the S&P 500. More recently, the share price has pulled back, presenting an opportunity for investors.
Over the past six months, DHR stock has declined 11%, including a nearly 7% pullback in 2023. The stock continues to slump despite the company’s earnings beating Wall Street forecasts over the past four consecutive quarters.
Investors should consider taking a position in Danaher before the company spins off its environmental and applied solutions unit this year. The company announced in September that it plans to shed the unit so it can focus exclusively on its life sciences and diagnostics business.
On the date of publication, Joel Baglole held long positions in GOOGL and DHR. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.