Zacks' Discount Fundamental Strength Strategy Highlights Bassett Furniture Industries, Frontier Oil Corp., Guitar Center and Children's Place Retail Stores.CHICAGO -- Combining strong underlying fundamentals with low valuations can lower risk and increase portfolio returns. Zacks' Discounted Fundamental Strength Profit Track strategy has generated double-digit returns for four consecutive years, including a 31% gain in 2004. During the first-half of 2005, this strategy continued to handedly beat the S&P 500. Four stocks that currently have both fundamental strength and discounted valuations are Bassett Furniture Bassett Furniture is a furniture manufacturer located in Virginia, USA. Bassett Furniture is one of the oldest furniture manufacturers in Virginia and has been producing hand crafted furniture for over 100 years. Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq:BSET BSET Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology BSET Building Systems Engineering Technology BSET Berhampur School of Engineering and Technology ), Frontier Oil Frontier Oil NYSE: FTO, begun in 1949 as Wainoco Oil, is an energy company with its headquarters located in Houston, TX and its subsidiary company, Frontier Refining & Marketing, Inc., located in Denver, CO. Corp. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :FTO Noun 1. FTO - a political movement that uses terror as a weapon to achieve its goals foreign terrorist organization, terrorist group, terrorist organization ), Guitar Center, Inc. (Nasdaq:GTRC GTRC Grid Technology Research Center (Japan) GTRC Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission (North Carolina) ) and Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. (Nasdaq:PLCE PLCE Personal Load Carrying Equipment (British Army) ). View the entire list of stocks for the Discounted Fundamental Strength Profit Track at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2142. Here are details about four companies currently identified by the Discounted Fundamental Strength Profit Track: Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq:BSET) has a current ratio of 2.13 and low debt as indicated by its debt/equity level of 0.02. The company recently announced fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 25 cents per share Cents per share The amount of a mutual fund's dividend or capital gains distributions that a shareholder will receive for each share owned. , excluding charges. The result topped last year's 24 cents and beat the consensus estimate by 25%. BSET noted that it was pleased with its improvement in continuing operating earnings Operating Earnings Profits after subtracting expenses such as marketing, cost of goods sold, administration and general operating costs from revenue. Notes: Tax and interest expenses are not subtracted - operating earnings are synonymous with EBIT (earnings before and the solid performance posted by its upholstery division and imported products within its wood division. Frontier Oil Corp. (NYSE:FTO) reported third-quarter earnings of $1.91 per share in early November. The result eclipsed the consensus estimate by about 17% and outpaced the year ago earnings. This marked the most profitable quarter in Frontier's history. The company commented that the record quarterly earnings were attributable to outstanding diesel and gasoline crack spreads, wide crude oil differentials and improved refinery utilization. FTO has low levels of debt as evidenced by its debt/equity level of 0.32. The firm has a PEG ratio PEG Ratio See: Prospective earnings growth ratio PEG ratio See price-earnings/growth ratio (PEG ratio). of 0.79. Fourth-quarter results will be available in late February. Guitar Center, Inc. (Nasdaq:GTRC) satisfies the criteria of this Profit Track with a current ratio of 2 and a debt/equity level of 0.27. The company recently released fourth-quarter sales figures. Consolidated net sales Net Sales The amount a seller receives from the buyer after costs associated with the sale are deducted. Notes: This amount is calculated by subtracting the following items from gross sales: merchandise returned for credit, allowances for damaged or missing goods, freight increased 19.8% to $562.0 million from the previous year's $468.9 million. Comparable Guitar Center store sales increased 4.6% for the quarter. The rest of the financial results for the fourth quarter will be available in mid-February. Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. (Nasdaq:PLCE) recently posted December sales totals. Comparable store sales for The Children's Place stores increased 11% on top of a 21% increase for the same period last year. Total consolidated sales advanced 8% year-over-year. The company's current ratio is 1.93 and it has no debt as evidenced by its debt/equity level of zero. Discover all the current stocks currently on the Discounted Fundamental Strength Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2143. 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 2004, the Upgrades and Revisions strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +55.7% followed by the Low Price Stocks screen with a +54.8% return. To see all nine strategies along with philosophy, past performance, and current stocks, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=1838. All the Profit Track strategies were created and backtested using the Research Wizard software from Zacks Investment Research Zacks Investment Research A firm that compiles earnings estimates and brokerage firm investment recommendations for thousands of publicly traded firms. . 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=2156. About Zacks Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 to compile, analyze, and distribute investment research to both institutional and individual investors. The guiding principle behind Zacks is the belief that investment experts, such as brokerage analysts and investment newsletter writers, have superior knowledge about how to invest successfully. The goal is to unlock these pros' profitable insights for individual investors hard-pressed to find this valuable information in one source. A free subscription to "Profit from the Pros" weekly e-mail newsletter provides the best way to use these experts' insights for more profitable investing. Register for a free subscription to the Profit from the Pros newsletter at http://at.zacks.com/?id=1841. Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. (a) The S&P 500 Index ("S&P 500") is a well-known, unmanaged index of the prices of 500 large-company common stocks selected by Standard and Poor's Noun 1. Standard and Poor's - a broadly based stock market index Standard and Poor's Index . The S&P 500 includes the reinvestment of all dividends, no transaction costs Transaction Costs Costs incurred when buying or selling securities. These include brokers' commissions and spreads (the difference between the price the dealer paid for a security and the price they can sell it). , and represents the gross returns before management fees. 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. |
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