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.
FIRST COMMONWEALTH FINANCIAL CORP (FCF) 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: First Commonwealth Financial Corporation is a financial holding company. The Company's operating subsidiaries include First Commonwealth Bank (the Bank), First Commonwealth Insurance Agency, Inc. (FCIA) and FRAMAL. It provides a diversified array of consumer and commercial banking services through its bank subsidiary, FCB. It also provides trust and wealth management services through FCB and offer insurance products through FCIA. The Bank operated 126 community banking offices in 30 counties throughout western and central Pennsylvania and throughout Ohio, as well as commercial lending operations in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Canton, Cleveland, Columbus, Canfield and Hudson, Ohio. The Bank also operates a network of 138 automated teller machines. All of its ATMs are part of the NYCE and MasterCard/Cirrus networks, both of which operate nationwide. The Bank is a member of the Allpoint ATM network, which allows surcharge-free access to over 55,000 ATMs.
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 FIRST COMMONWEALTH FINANCIAL CORP
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
BASIC SANT CPY OF THE STA PUL SBSP (ADR) (SBS) is a large-cap growth stock in the Water Utilities industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 79% to 98% 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: Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo SABESP is a water and sewage service provider. The Company provides water and sewage services to a range of residential, commercial, industrial and governmental customers in over 360 municipalities in the state of Sao Paulo, including the city of Sao Paulo. The Company's segments include Water and Sewage. The Company also supplies treated water on a wholesale basis to approximately 10 municipalities located in the Sao Paulo metropolitan region and urban conurbations. The Company's activities comprise water supply, sanitary sewage services, urban rainwater management and drainage services, urban cleaning services, solid waste management services and related activities, including the planning, operation, maintenance and commercialization of energy, and the commercialization of services, products, benefits and rights that directly or indirectly arise from its assets, operations and activities.
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: | PASS |
| TOTAL RETURN/PE: | PASS |
| FREE CASH FLOW: | FAIL |
| EPS PERSISTENCE: | PASS |
Detailed Analysis of BASIC SANT CPY OF THE STA PUL SBSP (ADR)
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.
