Four Stocks With Growing EPS Near Their 52-Week Lows - Part II

With these articles, thanks to GuruFocus All-In-One Screener, I want to highlight stocks that have a strong price correction and are trading near their 52-week low. These stocks can be good for investors, since they reported growing earnings over the last few years.

Methode Electronics Inc (MEI)

The company is a manufacturer of component and subsystem devices with manufacturing, design and testing facilities in China, Egypt, Germany, India, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States. It designs, manufactures and markets devices employing electrical, radio remote control, electronic, wireless and sensing technologies.

The stock has been as high as $49.00 and as low as $27.15 in the last 52 weeks and is now -44.00% from its 52-week high and +1.07% from its 52-week low.

Earnings per share grew by 58.50% over the last 5 years and 2.80% over the last 12 months.

Shares of MEI dropped by 32.4% on heavy trading volume after the diversified electronics company was guided below analysts' estimates for fiscal 2016. In the last reports, the company reported earnings of $0.68/a share for the fiscal fourth quarter, in line with analysts' estimates and revenue grew by 1.1% year over year.

Many investors were critical of the company’s leadership but the majority of them were still optimistic about future growth and were willing to buy in at the discounted price. The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels, notable return on equity, good cash flow from operations and solid stock price performance.

During the first quarter of 2015, Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) increased their stakes by 16.54% and 10.83%, while Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio), James Barrow (Trades, Portfolio) and Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) reduced their stakes by 57%, 54% and 9%.

The main holder of the company is now Chuck Royce (Trades, Portfolio) with 2.37% of shares outstanding, followed by Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) (1.70%) and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) (1.14%)

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (KORS)

The Company is engaged in designing, marketing, distributing and retailing branded women's apparel and accessories and men's apparel bearing the Michael Kors trade name.

The stock has been as high as $91.79 and as low as $41.52 in the last 52 weeks and is now -53.14% from its 52-week high and +3.60% from its 52-week low.

Earnings per share grew by 99.30% over the last 5 years and 33.60% over the last 12 months.

Comparable-store sales (comps) for the fourth quarter dropped 5.8% as against a 26.2% increase in the prior-year quarter this decline was as a result of slowdown in traffic in North America, soft performance of the company’s watch business, forex headwinds and delays due to disruption at the West Coast ports.

The company expected that comps in the first quarter would decline in low-double digit and provided a cautious first-quarter and fiscal 2016 earnings per share outlook, and warned that currency headwinds may hurt the bottom line. Management estimated earnings in the band of 74–78 cents for the first quarter and between $4.40 and $4.50 per share for fiscal 2016.

During the first quarter of the year, Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) and Cazton Associates, sold out their stakes. Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) (by 231%), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) (by 446%), Steve Mandel (Trades, Portfolio) and Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio) increased their stakes and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) and Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio) bought shares of the company for the first time.

Now the main holder is Steven Mendel with 5.62% of shares outstanding, followed by Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) (0.15%)

Medallion Financial Corp (TAXI)

The company is a specialty finance company that originates, acquires, and services loans that finance taxicab medallions and various types of commercial businesses. The Company's wholly-owned portfolio, Medallion Bank, also originates consumer loans for the purchase of recreational vehicles, boats, motorcycles, and trailers, and to finance small scale home improvements.

The stock has been as high as $12.82 and as low as $8.33 in the last 52 weeks and is now -32.45% from its 52-week high and +3.96% from its 52-week low.

Earnings per share grew by 60.70% over the last 5 years and 3.50% over the last 12 months.

A bad news for owners of Medallion and their creditors is that the revenue for Medallion’s taxis generates continues to decline. This decline can be related to Uber, whose success in the city is likely an important part of the reason for taxi revenue declines. This is also bad for the owners' creditors. Earlier this year, they moved in foreclosure a raft of nearly 90 Medallions. Medallion revenues still haven't recovered to levels seen in previous years this May, a historically strong month for taxi receipts.

During the first quarter of the year, just two gurus traded shares of TAXI, and they both reduced their stakes. Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio) reduced his stake by 0.51% and Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio) reduced his stake by 6.83%. Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio) is also the main guru holding shares of the company with 0.55% of outstanding shares while Murray Stahl (Trades, Portfolio) is the second and holds 0.41% of shares outstanding.

Anika Therapeutics Inc (ANIK)

The Company develops, manufactures and commercializes therapeutic products for tissue protection, healing and repair. These products are based on hyaluronic acid, or HA, a naturally occurring, biocompatible polymer found throughout the body. Due to its biophysical and biochemical properties, HA performs physiological functions such as the protection and lubrication of soft tissues and joints, the maintenance of the structural integrity of tissues, and the transport of molecules to and within cells.

The stock has been as high as $50.89 and as low as $31.36 in the last 52 weeks and is now -36.71% from its 52-week high and +2.71% from its 52-week low.

Earnings per share grew by 53.40% over the last 5 years and 10.60% over the last 10 years. During the last 12 months they are facing a drop of 17%.

Anika Therapeutics is a leader in products for tissue protection, healing, and repair based on hyaluronic acid (HA) technology. They have a strategic collaboration with the Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to develop a therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that is a chronic inflammatory disorder which manifests itself in multiple joints of the body.

As the population in the U.S. continues to age, the Centers for Disease Control estimates that 67 million individuals will be diagnosed with RA by the year 2030.

IALS is a translational institute at the UMass flagship campus at Amherst, founded with major support from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. IALS translates life science research into products and services that improve human health in collaboration with industry partners.

With this partnership, ANIK plans to further advance on its mission to deliver innovative therapies that address the full continuum of patients care, with a focus in the area of orthopedics.

During the first quarter of the year, ANIK was traded by Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) that reduced his stake by 19%, John Burbank (Trades, Portfolio) that bought 10,047 shares and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) that reduced his stake by 47%.

Conclusions

The above companies are trading near their 52-week lows, and most of them are just waiting for a upward trend to start. Earnings are growing, but this doesn’t mean the price will start to rise soon.