The following are today’s upgrades for Validea’s Low PE Investor model based on the published strategy of John Neff. This strategy looks for firms with persistent earnings growth that trade at a discount relative to their earnings growth and dividend yield.
PULTEGROUP, INC. (PHM) is a large-cap value stock in the Construction Services industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 40% to 79% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.
Company Description: PulteGroup, Inc. is a homebuilder in the United States. The Company’s segments include Homebuilding and Financial Services. Its Homebuilding operations are engaged in the acquisition and development of land primarily for residential purposes within the United States and the construction of housing on such land. Its Financial Services operations consist principally of mortgage banking and title operations. The Company conducts its financial services business, through Pulte Mortgage LLC (Pulte Mortgage) and other subsidiaries. Pulte Mortgage arranges financing through the origination of mortgage loans. The Company’s subsidiaries are engaged in the homebuilding business. It offers a product line to meet the needs of homebuyers in its focused markets. Through its brands, which include Centex, Pulte Homes, Del Webb, DiVosta Homes, and John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, the Company offers a range of home designs, including single-family detached, townhouses, condominiums and duplexes.
The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy’s tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy’s criteria.
| P/E RATIO: | PASS |
| EPS GROWTH: | PASS |
| FUTURE EPS GROWTH: | FAIL |
| SALES GROWTH: | PASS |
| TOTAL RETURN/PE: | PASS |
| FREE CASH FLOW: | PASS |
| EPS PERSISTENCE: | FAIL |
For a full detailed analysis using NASDAQ’s Guru Analysis tool, click here
PEOPLES FINANCIAL SERVICES CORP (PFIS) is a small-cap value stock in the Regional Banks industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 60% to 79% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.
Company Description: Peoples Financial Services Corp. is a bank holding company. The Company provides a range of financial services through its subsidiary, Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company (Peoples Bank), including its subsidiary, Peoples Advisors, LLC. Peoples Bank is a state-chartered bank and trust company. Peoples Advisors, LLC, provides investment advisory services through a third party to individuals and small businesses. It provides an array of wealth management products and services, which include investment portfolio management, estate planning, annuities, business succession planning, insurances, education funding strategies and tax planning through Peoples Advisors, LLC. It offers credit card processing and a range of other products and services to merchant customers, including small business checking accounts, merchant money market account, online banking, telephone banking, business credit cards, merchant line of credit, business profitability and peer analysis, and financial checkup.
The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy’s tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy’s criteria.
| P/E RATIO: | PASS |
| EPS GROWTH: | PASS |
| FUTURE EPS GROWTH: | FAIL |
| SALES GROWTH: | PASS |
| TOTAL RETURN/PE: | PASS |
| FREE CASH FLOW: | FAIL |
| EPS PERSISTENCE: | PASS |
For a full detailed analysis using NASDAQ’s Guru Analysis tool, click here
CREDIT ACCEPTANCE CORP. (CACC) is a mid-cap value stock in the Consumer Financial Services industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 62% to 79% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.
Company Description: Credit Acceptance Corporation offers financing programs that enable automobile dealers to sell vehicles to consumers. The Company’s financing programs are offered through a network of automobile dealers. The Company has two Dealers financing programs: the Portfolio Program and the Purchase Program. Under the Portfolio Program, the Company advances money to dealers (Dealer Loan) in exchange for the right to service the underlying consumer loans. Under the Purchase Program, the Company buys the consumer loans from the dealers (Purchased Loan) and keeps the amounts collected from the consumer. Dealer Loans and Purchased Loans are collectively referred to as Loans. As of December 31, 2016, the Company’s target market included approximately 60,000 independent and franchised automobile dealers in the United States. The Company has market area managers located throughout the United States that market its programs to dealers, enroll new dealers and support active dealers.
The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy’s tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy’s criteria.
| P/E RATIO: | PASS |
| EPS GROWTH: | FAIL |
| FUTURE EPS GROWTH: | PASS |
| SALES GROWTH: | PASS |
| TOTAL RETURN/PE: | PASS |
| FREE CASH FLOW: | FAIL |
| EPS PERSISTENCE: | PASS |
For a full detailed analysis using NASDAQ’s Guru Analysis tool, click here
EBIX INC (EBIX) is a small-cap value stock in the Software & Programming industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 79% to 98% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.
Company Description: Ebix, Inc. (Ebix) is a supplier of software and e-commerce solutions to the insurance industry. Ebix provides application software products for the insurance industry, including carrier systems, agency systems and exchanges, as well as custom software development. Ebix conducts its operations through four channels, which include Exchanges, Carrier Systems, Broker Systems and Risk Compliance Solutions (RCS). Ebix operates data exchanges in the areas of life insurance, annuities, employee health benefits, risk management, workers compensation, and property and casualty (P&C) insurance. Ebix designs and deploys back-end systems for P&C insurance brokers across the world. Ebix also designs and deploys on-demand and back-end systems for P&C insurance companies. Ebix focus in RCS channel pertains to business process outsourcing services that include providing project management, time and material consulting to clients across the world, and claims adjudication/settlement services.
The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy’s tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy’s criteria.
| P/E RATIO: | PASS |
| EPS GROWTH: | PASS |
| FUTURE EPS GROWTH: | PASS |
| SALES GROWTH: | PASS |
| TOTAL RETURN/PE: | PASS |
| FREE CASH FLOW: | PASS |
| EPS PERSISTENCE: | FAIL |
For a full detailed analysis using NASDAQ’s Guru Analysis tool, click here
Since its inception, Validea’s strategy based on John Neff has returned 320.09% vs. 190.99% for the S&P 500. For more details on this strategy, click here
About John Neff: While known as the manager with whom many top managers entrusted their own money, Neff was far from the smooth-talking, high-profile Wall Streeter you might expect. He was mild-mannered and low-key, and the same might be said of the Windsor Fund that he managed for more than three decades. In fact, Neff himself described the fund as “relatively prosaic, dull, [and] conservative.” There was nothing dull about his results, however. From 1964 to 1995, Neff guided Windsor to a 13.7 percent average annual return, easily outpacing the S&P 500’s 10.6 percent return during that time. That 3.1 percentage point difference is huge over time — a $10,000 investment in Windsor (with dividends reinvested) at the start of Neff’s tenure would have ended up as more than $564,000 by the time he retired, more than twice what the same investment in the S&P would have yielded (about $233,000). Considering the length of his tenure, that track record may be the best ever for a manager of such a large fund.
About Validea: Validea is an investment research service that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
