Zacks' High Rank Value Strategy Highlights: EMC Insurance Group, Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd., First United Corporation and Unitrin.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 - bargains that generated returns of 1.4% in the first five months of 2006. Four stocks meeting this strategy's exclusive criteria are 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 ), Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : ENH ENH Enhancement ENH Evanston Northwestern Healthcare (Illinois) ENH Evanston-Northwestern Hospital ), First United Corporation (Nasdaq: FUNC FUNC Function/Functional FUNC Functionalist ) and Unitrin, Inc. (NYSE: UTR UTR Untranslated Region (genetics) UTR Unicode Technical Report UTR Unique Taxpayer Reference (UK Inland Revenue) UTR Unable to Reach UTR Unable to Reproduce UTR University Technical Representative ). 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: EMC Insurance Group Inc. (Nasdaq: EMCI), a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) company, has a price-to-earnings (P/E P/E See: Price/earnings ratio ) multiple of 9.10 and a price-to-book (P/B P/B See: Price to book ratio ) multiple of 1.77. In late October, the company announced third-quarter earnings of 85 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. , which matched the consensus estimate. The company noted that it was another record-breaking quarter, adding that it has a solid book of business and it continues to benefit from favorable development on prior years' reserves. Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: ENH) offers a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 10.79 and a price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 1.30. In late October, the company reported third-quarter earnings of $1.87 per share, excluding items. The result outperformed the consensus estimate by almost 36%. ENH stated that its results benefited from strong pricing and lower than expected losses in its catastrophe exposed businesses. First United Corporation (Nasdaq: FUNC) released financial results for the third quarter in early November. Earnings per share totaled 53 cents, surpassing the year-prior total of 50 cents. First United Corporation satisfies the criteria for this Profit Track as evidenced by its price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 10.09 and a price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 1.46. Unitrin, Inc. (NYSE: UTR), another Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) name, posted third-quarter earnings per share that were ahead of analyst expectations by roughly 127%. The company mentioned that it was pleased with its record third quarter operating results, adding that operating results were particularly strong at its Unitrin Kemper Auto and Home and its Life and Health Insurance business segments. UTR sports a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 13.10 and a price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 1.61. 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. For the first five months of 2006, the Low Price Stocks strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +22.2% followed by the Discounted Fundamental screen with a +18.6% 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 Reinvestment Using dividends, interest and capital gains earned in an investment or mutual fund to purchase additional shares or units, rather than receiving the distributions in cash. 1. In terms of stocks, it is the reinvestment of dividends to purchase additional shares. 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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