Allstate should make a bullish trend line breakAllstate is one of my top picks in terms of both value and sentiment. In terms of technicals, it's a classic potential trend line breakout play.
Value
After a significant selloff this year, Allstate is still trading near the bottom of its 3-year valuation range in P/E, P/S, and P/D terms. The company is financially healthy, with a 78/100 score for financial health from S&P Global. It pays a solid, but sustainable dividend; I estimate 2.37% dividend return in the next 12 months, assuming the dividend gets bumped up to 58 cents in the first quarter of next year. In the last 12 months, the dividend was only 16% of GAAP EPS, which is a very comfortable level. The PEG ratio of 2.77 is pretty good, and the PSG ratio of 0.25 is extremely good. (Admittedly, analyst coverage is a little thin, so we're not working with very many different estimates of future earnings and sales.) In fact, the only value metrics by which Allstate looks a little lackluster are its ESG score and earnings surprise history, both a little below the market average.
Sentiment
Sentiment on Allstate has been improving over the last month, with a large increase in the Equity Starmine Summary Score to its current rating of 9.7/10. Allstate got a hefty settlement from PG&E last month, so the news environment looks good. The put/call ratio on Allstate is bullish, but not strongly bullish, at 0.69. (A put/call ratio under 1 is bullish; a put/call ratio over 1 is bearish.)
Technicals
Technicals are somewhat negative for now, but given the improvement in analyst ratings, I expect that Allstate will soon make a bullish trend line cross. For a swing trade, I am setting my profit target in the 105-106 range. I will go ahead and buy ahead of the trend line cross, but another way to play this would be to wait for a confirmed cross to place a buy.
