The world of financial markets can be a brutal jungle, filled with dangers at every turn and businesses going bankrupt or turning billionaires almost overnight. Today, some of these risks and uncertain turning points have been assessed to bring you a sensible list of companies that can be termed as value stocks.
With the consumer discretionary sector, semiconductor stocks, and even real estate-related industries taking turns out of their typical correlation rates, today's market can be as confusing as ever, so MarketBeat has boiled it down to two simple measures: Highly profitable businesses selling at unjustifiable prices.
Keeping it short and sweet, the most suitable candidates turn out to be CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM), and HP (NYSE: HPQ). As you will soon find out, these names all fit the criteria of being strong and profitable businesses selling for what can be considered fire sale prices in their own merit.
Price action never lies
When markets are all over the place, and the most prominent players in the industry are attempting to hide their tracks from the public, it is typically price action that tells the impostors from the actual players on the field. And as far as these three companies are concerned, it is clear as day.
One inflection point, one bull-ridden, and one bear-ridden are the options you have to pick from in today's list. What is nice about this variety is that you can cater to your perspective on where you think the market will be headed.
Pick the inflection stock, and you can be sure to enjoy the benefits of a turnaround economy. Pick the bear-ridden one, and you will diversify away any downside risk if you believe the worst is yet to come for the S&P 500.
With the bull-ridden name, momentum is your ally if you think all recession risks are now in the rear-view mirror. One key factor to remember is that no matter which names you end up picking, the profitability and 'value' factor in them will make them portfolio winners if you hold onto them long enough.
Revelation time: HP is the one sitting at an inflection point, judged by its current 16.0% discount from 52-week high prices; not quite a bear market nor a bull market. CVS trades at a 35.0% discount; it's the bear-ridden name here. Williams-Sonoma is virtually at its 52-week high, with many bulls pushing this higher.
With price action opening up the gates for further analysis, it is time to jump into the intricate factors of the businesses in question and figure out why you can also call them a value pick of your own.
Gifts that keep on giving
Starting with the inflection name, HP is coming to save your investable cash from inflation by offering you an attractive dividend yield of 3.7% to beat the United States inflation rate and almost compete with ten-year treasury bond yields today.
But HP doesn't stop there; when it comes to the computer sector, its 8.7x price-to-earnings ratio will represent a rough 40.0% discount to the industry-average valuation of 14.3x. What's more is that analysts agree on a $30.8 price target, calling for a 7.2% upside from today's prices.
So the stock is cheap, but is it any good? An ROIC (return on invested capital) rate of 28.0% would say yes. ROIC is essential because the stock price typically tends to reflect its annual performance on the average ROIC of the business.
Having HP as a benchmark, it is time to analyze CVS for these qualities, which only has one worthy opponent named Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA). While CVS is 26.0% more expensive than Walgreens, there is a good reason for markets to make this so.
CVS carries an ROIC nearly triple that of Walgreens, for starters, so it makes it the name most likely to compound your money, which just happens to be in a deep bear market. So, in case you are worried about further market downturns, this can be your go-to since it cannot go much lower from here.
Ah, the king of the hill. Williams-Sonoma's 52-week high is far from being a coincidence. Regarding home furnishing stocks, an 11.5x P/E will represent a 27.0% discount to the sector's 15.8x average. So even though the price action is bullish, there is still plenty of upside left.
There's a reason this business made it up the ranks, as its ROIC shows a tremendous rate of 30.0%! And guess what? It is not going anywhere. Would an unstable business be able to increase its dividend payout for 18 consecutive years? That's your answer right there.
