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.
CENOVUS ENERGY INC (US) (CVE) is a large-cap value stock in the Oil & Gas Operations 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: Cenovus Energy Inc. is a Canada-based integrated energy company. The Company has oil and natural gas production operations in Canada and the Asia Pacific region, and upgrading, refining and marketing operations in Canada and the United States. The Company's segments include Upstream, Downstream, and Corporate and Eliminations. Its Upstream segment includes Oil Sands, Conventional, and Offshore. Its Downstream segment consists of Canadian Manufacturing, and United States Manufacturing. The Company's upstream operations include oil sands projects in northern Alberta, thermal and conventional crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) projects across Western Canada, crude oil production offshore Newfoundland and Labrador and natural gas and NGLs production offshore China and Indonesia. The Company's downstream operations include upgrading and refining operations in Canada and the United States, and commercial fuel operations across Canada.
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: | PASS |
| EPS PERSISTENCE: | FAIL |
Detailed Analysis of CENOVUS ENERGY INC (US)
GENPACT LTD (G) is a mid-cap value stock in the Business Services industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 40% to 81% 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: Genpact Limited is a global professional services company. Its Financial Services segment covers services provided in the banking, capital markets and insurance sectors. Its core operations services provided to clients include retail customer onboarding, customer service, collections, loan and payment operations, customer onboarding and others. Its Consumer and Healthcare segment covers services provided to clients in the consumer goods, retail, life sciences and healthcare sectors. The core operations services provided to clients include demand generation, sensing and planning, supply chain planning and management and others. Its High Tech and Manufacturing segment covers services provided to clients in the high tech, manufacturing, and service sectors. Its core operations services include advertising sales support, data engineering, and others. The Company also offers AI-driven industry-specific cloud solutions to transform operations and drive competitive advantages for enterprises.
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: | FAIL |
| TOTAL RETURN/PE: | PASS |
| FREE CASH FLOW: | PASS |
| EPS PERSISTENCE: | PASS |
Detailed Analysis of GENPACT LTD
EQUITY BANCSHARES INC (EQBK) is a small-cap value stock in the Money Center 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: Equity Bancshares, Inc. is the holding company for Equity Bank (the Bank). The Bank is engaged in offering a full range of financial solutions, including commercial loans, consumer banking, mortgage loans, trust and wealth management services and treasury management services, while delivering the relationship-based customer service of a community bank. It operates a network of over 71 branches located in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The BankGs operations involve the delivery of loan and deposit products to its customers. It provides a variety of loans, such as commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate loans, 1-4 family residential mortgages, agricultural loans, and consumer loans. It offers a full suite of online banking solutions including access to account balances, online transfers, online bill payment and electronic delivery of customer statements, mobile banking solutions for iPhone and Android phones, including remote check deposit with mobile bill pay.
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 |
Detailed Analysis of EQUITY BANCSHARES INC
UNIVERSAL CORP (UVV) is a small-cap value stock in the Crops industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 58% to 77% 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: Universal Corporation is a global business-to-business agriproducts company. The Company is a global leaf tobacco supplier and provides plant-based ingredients to food and beverage end markets. The Company operates through two segments: Tobacco Operations and Ingredients Operations. The Tobacco Operations segment activities involve contracting, procuring, processing, packing, storing, and shipping leaf tobacco for sale to, or for the account of, manufacturers of consumer tobacco products throughout the world. Through its Ingredients Operations segment, the Company procures raw materials globally and processes the raw materials through a variety of value-added manufacturing processes to produce specialty plant-based ingredients, including fruits, vegetables, botanical extracts, and flavorings for consumer-packaged goods manufacturers, retailers, and food and beverage companies. The Company has operations in over 30 countries on five continents.
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: | FAIL |
Detailed Analysis of UNIVERSAL CORP
INNOVATIVE INDUSTRIAL PROPERTIES INC (IIPR) is a small-cap value stock in the Rental & Leasing industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 58% to 77% 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: Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. is an internally managed real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company is focused on the acquisition, ownership and management of specialized industrial properties leased to experienced, state-licensed operators for their regulated cannabis facilities. It acquires its properties through sale-leaseback transactions and third-party purchases. The Company owns approximately 109 properties comprising an aggregate of 9.0 million rentable square feet (including 666,000 rentable square feet under development/redevelopment) in 19 states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. Its subsidiary is IIP Operating Partnership, LP (Operating Partnership).
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: | FAIL |
Detailed Analysis of INNOVATIVE INDUSTRIAL PROPERTIES INC
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 aninvestment researchservice 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.
