7 Most Undervalued Stocks to Buy Now

There are bargains to be found in the current bear market for investors who have nerves of steel and can stomach the volatility. The broad-based decline in equities through the first three quarters of the year means that some of the best run and most dominant companies in the U.S. have undervalued stocks to buy. These names are trading at a huge discount relative to their current and future earnings.

The share prices of many highly profitable, market-leading companies have sunk by 50% or more over the last nine months, in many cases erasing the gains that they achieved during the pandemic of the last two years.

This presents a huge buying opportunity for investors looking to put capital to work in a weak market. And while we may not have achieved a bottom yet, there are plenty of undervalued stocks to buy at fir- sale prices. These stocks should pay off handsomely once the market does bottom and share prices permanently reverse higher.

Here are seven of the most undervalued, attractive stocks.

Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL)

The shares of technology behemoth Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) are undervalued, and they’ve recently become a lot more affordable. In July, Alphabet carried out a 20-for-1 stock split, and the share price fell from around $2,300 to just over $110.

The stock split alone will put shares of Alphabet within the reach of most retail investors. However, Alphabet’s stock is also down 30% in 2022 and trades roughly 33% below its 52-week high. The company’s price-earnings (P/E) ratio has declined along with the share price to an attractive level of 19, which is below the average of 25 for large-cap technology stocks.

Put it all together, and GOOGL stock is trading at its most affordable level since shortly after the company went public in 2004, and the share price is at its most undervalued since the 2008-09 financial crisis.

Investors can take a position in one of the world’s most dominant technology companies for close to what they would have paid when the search engine giant held its initial public offering (IPO). Since then, Alphabet’s share price has gained more than 4,000%.

And this year’s pullback is one of the steepest in the company’s history as a publicly traded entity. Investors should take advantage of the opportunity.

Down 30% this year, retailer The Home Depot (NYSE:HD) is now trading at $290 a share and was recently at its lowest level since before the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March 2020.

The decline of the share price hardly seems justified, considering that the Atlanta-based company just reported solid second-quarter earnings and reaffirmed its 2022 guidance. The company’s Q1 sales were the strongest in its 44-year history. For Q2, Home Depot reported earnings per share of $5.05, which beat analysts’ average forecast of $4.94 per share. Its Q2 revenue came in at $43.79 billion, beating the average outlook of $43.36 billion.

In all of 2022, the company expects its sales to increase 3% and EPS growth of around 5%.

Home Depot continues to manage inflationary pressures. The company has been focused on serving professional home builders and contractors rather than putting a great deal of its efforts towards serving do-it-yourself renovators and weekend warriors.

The company noted on its Q2 earnings call that its sales to professionals continue to exceed its revenue from do-it-yourself projects. Illustrating that trend, its revenue from building-material supplies has been growing by double-digit-percentages YOY.

The earnings and positive guidance show that Home Depot has been unfairly dragged lower by the market rout. Add in a P/E ratio on the stock of 17.54 and a quarterly dividend that yields 2.7%, and it’s easy to make the case that investors should buy HD stock on the dip.

Really, you could put any semiconductor stock on this list. They’ve all been knocked lower this year as investors flee high-growth technology equities in favor of stocks that are more immune to rising interest rates.

But among the semis, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) has been especially battered, down 52% on the year. At the end of September, investors could purchase the shares of AMD for $65 each, the same level at which the stock was trading at two years ago. The California-based company’s P/E ratio is now at 29, lower than archrival Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) P/E ratio of 43 and below the industry average.

While AMD doesn’t pay a dividend, the company’s earnings have continued to be stellar this year, and its outlook is strong despite its ongoing challenges caused by supply-chain issues and inflationary pressures. In August, the company reported its second-quarter results which showed that its Q2 sales had come in at $6.55 billion versus analysts’ average estimate of $6.53 billion.

Each of AMD’s individual businesses grew during the quarter, with its overall revenue rising 70% year-over-year. Looking ahead, the company guided for sales of $6.7 billion for the just-completed Q3, plus or minus $200 million. By almost every measure, AMD is a best-in-class stock that investors should buy while it is on sale.

Target (TGT)

Another retailer whose stock is looking cheap is Minneapolis-based Target (NYSE:TGT). In 2022, TGT stock has dropped 32% to trade at $158 a share.

The shares of the big-box department store chain, which has nearly 2,000 locations, more than 400,000 employees, and annual revenues in excess of $100 billion, had been holding up fairly well until April. That’s when the company reported its Q1 earnings which showed that inflation had affected its bottom line and that it had an excessive amount of inventory in its warehouses.

Inventory, in particular, has been a problem for TGT, with the retailer warning in June that its Q2 operating margin would likely fall to 2% from 5.3% in Q1 as it marked down unwanted items, canceled orders, and took steps to get rid of extra items. The retailer blamed its poor financial results on pricey freight costs, higher markdowns, and lower sales of everything from television sets to bikes.

The earnings and inventory issues aside, Target still pays a decent dividend that yields 2.74%, or $1.08 a share per quarter. And its P/E ratio of 17.9 shows that the stock is currently undervalued relative to its peers.

Boeing (BA)

The Boeing Company’s (NYSE:BA) stock was down for the count before this year’s bear market. Several high-profile crashes of its aircraft in the last few years had created a crisis of confidence in the Virginia-based manufacturer of passenger airplanes. However, all indications are that Boeing has turned the page and is moving forward with more stringent safety guidelines.

However, this fact hasn’t helped BA stock, which has fallen 34% this year and is trading at $132 a share. The stock is trading near the same level that it was at a decade ago.

Investors willing to be patient with BA stock should consider the fact that Boeing is part of a duopoly when it comes to aircraft manufacturing. That’s because France’s Airbus SE (OTC:EADSY) is the only other reputable company in the world that manufactures a high number of commercial passenger airplanes.

This gives Boeing an enormous advantage and puts the company in a strong competitive position. While investors continue to fret about the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) looking over the shoulders of Boeing’s executives and engineers, they miss the fact that the company continues to win lucrative contracts around the world as airlines move to replace their aircraft fleets.

Pfizer (PFE)

New York City-based Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) is one of the world’s premier pharmaceutical companies, with annual revenues of more than $80 billion and nearly 80,000 employees worldwide. The company makes several blockbuster drugs ranging from Celebrex which treats arthritis; Eliquis for the treatment of deep vein thrombosis; and Prevnar for multiple types of pneumococcal bacteria.

And in late 2020, the company’s Covid-19 vaccine hit the market. Pfizer sold $36.7 billion worth of Covid-19 vaccines globally last year, representing 45% of its total revenue. This year, the company forecasts Covid-19 vaccine sales of $54.5 billion, including booster shots.

Despite the successful addition of its Covid-19 vaccine and the multi-billion dollars of revenue that it has brought in, PFE stock has declined 23% this year to $43.88 a share. The company’s price–earnings ratio is a modest 8.66, suggesting the stock is cheap at its current levels.

Investors who snap up the shares ahead of this year’s cold and flu season will also benefit from a quarterly dividend that yields 3.66%, for a payout of 40 cents a share every three months. In the lead-up to this winter, Pfizer is continuing to develop its Covid-19 treatment, called “Paxlovid.”

So far, the pill has received Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA, and trials of the drug continue. Some analysts say the pill could be Pfizer’s next blockbuster medication if it gets full approval from the FDA.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM)

You’d think that JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), the largest bank in the U.S., would be doing well with interest rates marching higher. After all, the New York-based financial giant can now charge higher rates of interest on its myriad of loans – from mortgages and home equity lines of credit to credit cards and commercial loans to businesses – than at any point in the past decade. Yet JPM stock has been a true laggard this year, down 29% since January and now trading at $112 a share. It’s been a sharp retreat for a bank that boasts $4 trillion of assets under management.

The decline in fortune for JPM stock is largely due to mounting fears that the same interest rate hikes benefitting its loan book will also push the U.S. economy into a recession. Most economists are now debating how long and deep a recession will be next year, rather than the likelihood of the economy contracting.

However, JPMorgan will be fine over the long-term and continues to branch out into new areas ranging from emerging markets, notably China, to digital banking and payment apps that appeal to younger consumers. A price-earnings ratio of nine makes the stock look affordable. And the bank offers shareholders a quarterly divided that yields 3.8%.

On the date of publication, Joel Baglole held long positions in GOOGL and NVDA. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.