Zacks' High Rank Value Strategy Highlights: Camco Financial Corp., EMC Insurance Group, First United Corporation and Timberland Bancorp.CHICAGO -- 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 Undervalued A stock or other security that is trading below its true value. Notes: The difficulty is knowing what the "true" value actually is. Analysts will usually recommend an undervalued stock with a strong buy rating. . The High Rank Value Profit Track strategy finds such bargains. This screen generated a 13.7% return in 2005. Four stocks meeting this strategy's exclusive criteria are Camco Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:CAFI CAFI Canadian Agriculture and Food International CAFI Conférence des Alpes franco-italiennes (French) CAFI Computer-Aided Fault Isolation CAFI Commanders Annual Facility Inspection ), EMC (1) (EMC Corporation, Hopkinton, MA, www.emc.com) The leading supplier of storage products for midrange computers and mainframes. Founded in 1979 by Richard J. Egan and Roger Marino, EMC has developed advanced storage and retrieval technologies for the world's largest companies. Insurance Group Inc. (Nasdaq:EMCI EMCI Envirofacts Master Chemical Integrator EMCI External Memory Control Interface ), First United Corporation (Nasdaq:FUNC FUNC Function/Functional FUNC Functionalist ) and Timberland Bancorp, Inc (Nasdaq:TSBK). 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: Camco Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:CAFI) announced fourth quarter earnings 32 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. in mid-January. The result outperformed last year's 24 cents and exceed the consensus estimate by almost 19%. The company noted that 2005 was a good year, during which it increased 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 , strengthened its balance sheet, invested in its banking franchise, and continued to make progress on all aspects of its long term strategic plan. The savings and loan savings and loan n. a banking and lending institution, chartered either by a state or the Federal government. Savings and loans only make loans secured by real property from deposits, upon which they pay interest slightly higher than that paid by most banks. holding company has a price-to-earnings (P/E P/E See: Price/earnings ratio ) multiple of 12.13 and price-to-book (P/B P/B See: Price to book ratio ) multiple of 1.17. EMC Insurance Group Inc. (Nasdaq:EMCI) reported fourth-quarter earnings of $1.34 per share in late February, which topped the consensus estimate by nearly 5% and was ahead of the year-ago total. EMCI stated that it credits its success to strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. and strong relationships with its agency partners. The company's shares offer a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 13.66 and a price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 1.34. First United Corporation (Nasdaq:FUNC), a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) name, is a one-bank holding company with two non-bank subsidiaries. In late February, the company posted fourth-quarter earnings of 69 cents per share, which was ahead of the year-prior performance. FUNC satisfies the criteria for this Profit Track with a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 11.02 and price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 1.48. Timberland Bancorp, Inc (Nasdaq:TSBK) released fiscal first-quarter financial results in late January. Earnings per share of 55 cents topped the consensus estimate by 10% and improved on last year's 40 cents. TSBK noted that the increased earnings per share was primarily a result of increased net interest income and decreased non-interest expenses. The company offers a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 13.75 and a price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 1.34 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 2005, the Low Price Stocks strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +51.9% followed by the Recent Price Strength screen with a +35.5% 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 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros 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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