CHICAGO - (Business Wire) Many value investors look for stocks trading at Price/Earnings multiples below 15 and Price/Book multiples below 3. Combining these valuation measures with a Zacks Rank of #1 (
“Strong Buy
”) or #2 (
“Buy
”) helps to ensure that a stock is truly undervalued. The High Rank Value Profit Track strategy finds such bargains - bargains that generated returns of exceeding the S&P 500 in 2006. Four stocks meeting this strategy
’s exclusive criteria are:
Hiland Partners, LP (NASDAQ: HLND),
Amcol International Corp. (NYSE: ACO),
PepsiAmericas Inc. (NYSE: PAS) and
Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH).
View the entire list of stocks for the High Rank Value Profit Track at
http://at.zacks.com/?id=2136.
Here are details about four companies currently identified by the High Rank Value Profit Track:
Hiland Partners, LP (NASDAQ: HLND) reported an astonishing 818.75% increase in year-over-year second-quarter earnings, which jumped to $1.47 per share from 16 cents. In addition, the company delivered a 212.8% surprise, as analysts were expecting earnings of 47 cents. The Zacks #2 Rank company qualifies for this profit track with a P/E ratio of 10.53 and a P/B ratio of .85. HLDN is engaged in gathering, compressing, dehydrating, treating, processing and marketing natural gas.
Amcol International Corp. (NYSE: ACO) qualifies for the High Rank Value profit track with a P/E ratio of 13.14 and a P/B ratio of 1.87. ACO reported second-quarter earnings of 58 cents per share, while analysts were expecting 52 cents. Moreover, this Zacks #1 Rank sports a dividend yield of 3.04% and, on Sep 26, paid a quarterly cash dividend of 18 cents per share. ACO is a leading international producer and marketer of value-added, specialty minerals and related products.
PepsiAmericas Inc. (NYSE: PAS) is the world's second-largest manufacturer, seller and distributor of PepsiCo beverages. The company sports a Zacks #2 Rank and a P/E of 8.98. In addition, PAS enjoys a dividend yield of 3.34% and a P/B ratio of 1.07, which meets this screen’s parameters of a dividend yield greater than 2% and a P/B ratio of less than 3. In the second quarter, the company reported earnings of 72 cents, which exceeded analysts’ expectations of 62 cents.
Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) is a Zacks #2 Rank company with some very attractive valuations, including a P/E multiple of 8.16 and a price to book multiple of .45. ASH delivered year-over-year second-quarter earnings that increased to $1.03 per share from 78 cents. ASH is a diversified chemical company that provides innovative products, services and solutions to customers around the globe.
Discover all the current stocks currently on the High Rank Value Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2137.
About Profit Tracks
What is a "Profit Track"? Each Profit Track is a successful stock picking strategy with proven results through the Bear Market of 2001-2002 and the Bull run started in 2003. On Zacks.com we have created these nine unique screens to offer investors great strategies to potentially outperform the market in the years ahead. In 2006, the Low Price Stocks strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +56.5% followed by the Discounted Fundamental screen with a +34% return. To see all nine strategies along with philosophy, past performance and current stocks, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=4568
All the Profit Track strategies were created and back tested using the Research Wizard software from Zacks Investment Research. If you like this screening strategy, but want to narrow down the list of stocks and even improve the performance, then you should start a free trial to this powerful stock picking tool. Learn more about the Research Wizard free trial offer and our new special report “Top 10 Stock Screening Strategies” at http://at.zacks.com/?id=4566
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Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security.
Zacks.com
Alla Kushner
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