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.
WEST BANCORPORATION, INC. (WTBA) is a small-cap value stock in the Regional 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: West Bancorporation, Inc. is a financial holding company. The Company owns West Bank (the Bank), which is a business-focused community bank. The Company operates in the markets, including central Iowa, which is generally the greater Des Moines metropolitan area; eastern Iowa, which includes the area surrounding Iowa City and Coralville, and southern Minnesota, which includes the cities of Rochester, Owatonna, Mankato and St. Cloud. The Bank offers a range of deposit services, including checking, savings and money market accounts and time certificates of deposit. The Bank also offers Internet, mobile banking and treasury management services, which help to meet the banking needs of its customers. It offers many types of credit to its customers, including commercial, real estate and consumer loans. It also offers trust services, including the administration of estates, conservatorships, personal trusts and agency accounts.
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 WEST BANCORPORATION, INC.
REPUBLIC FIRST BANCORP INC (FRBK) is a small-cap value stock in the Regional 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: Republic First Bancorp, Inc. is a holding company for Republic First Bank (Republic or the Bank), which does business under the name Republic Bank. The Company offers a range of banking products and services, including consumer and commercial deposit accounts, checking accounts, interest-bearing demand accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, savings accounts, sweep accounts, lockbox services and individual retirement accounts and other traditional banking services, automobile loans, home improvement loans, mortgages, home equity and overdraft lines of credit, and other products. Its loan portfolio consists of secured and unsecured commercial loans including commercial real estate loans, construction and land development loans, commercial and industrial loans, owner occupied real estate loans, consumer and other loans, residential mortgages and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.
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: | PASS |
Detailed Analysis of REPUBLIC FIRST BANCORP INC
JANUS HENDERSON GROUP PLC (JHG) is a mid-cap value stock in the Investment Services 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: Janus Henderson Group PLC is an independent global asset manager. The Company specializes in active investment across all asset classes. It operates through the investment management business segment. The Company manages a range of actively managed investment products for institutional and retail investors across five capabilities: Equities, Fixed Income, Multi-Asset, Quantitative Equities and Alternatives. It operates across various product lines, distribution channels and geographic regions. The Company conducts its operations in North America, the United Kingdom (UK), continental Europe, Latin America, Japan, Asia and Australia.
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 JANUS HENDERSON GROUP PLC
SILVERCREST ASSET MANAGEMENT GROUP INC (SAMG) is a small-cap value stock in the Investment Services industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 62% 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: Silvercrest Asset Management Group Inc. is a full-service wealth management company that is focused on providing financial advisory and related family office services to high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors. The Company offers a suite of complementary and customized family office services for families seeking oversight of their financial affairs. The Company views its operations as comprising one operating segment, the investment management industry. The Company provides a range of administrative services to the management of certain of its company's funds of funds and other investment funds collectively, the Silvercrest Funds. It also provides a range of family office services to some of its clients, including philanthropic, estate and wealth planning services, tax planning and preparation, financial statement, bill paying and record keeping services, bank loan arrangement and payment services and property and casualty insurance review.
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: | PASS |
Detailed Analysis of SILVERCREST ASSET MANAGEMENT GROUP INC
More details on Validea's John Neff strategy
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.
