As discussed in a previous article, the value screeners offer helpful investing insights. Not only do the screeners list good company stocks in which to invest, they can also identify which stock markets are undervalued.
As of Aug. 29 more than 2,800 global stocks made at least one of the value screeners, as shown in the table below.
| Screener name | USA | Canada | UK / Ireland | Europe | Asia | Oceania | Latin America | Africa |
| Ben Graham net-net (BGN) | 184 | 73 | 47 | 245 | 607 | 21 | 4 | 6 |
| Undervalued predictable (UVP) | 56 | 10 | 17 | 78 | 46 | 6 | 19 | 5 |
| Buffett-Munger (BFM) | 43 | 4 | 12 | 60 | 64 | 3 | 18 | 4 |
| Historical low p/s (LPS) | 23 | 0 | 9 | 36 | 41 | 3 | 11 | 2 |
| Historical low p/b (LPB) | 24 | 2 | 10 | 48 | 61 | 4 | 10 | 3 |
| Peter Lynch growth (PLG) | 22 | 3 | 23 | 73 | 90 | 4 | 19 | 7 |
| Walter Schloss (WTS) | 18 | 19 | 64 | 89 | 471 | 15 | 11 | 3 |
| Total | 370 | 111 | 182 | 629 | 1380 | 56 | 92 | 30 |
Across all eight regions, the number of stocks that made the value screeners increased during August. Some screeners had high increases: for example, the Ben Graham Net-Net Screener added nearly 200 Asian companies since Aug. 3. This suggests that Asian stock markets are moderately undervalued and present good investing opportunities.
As of Aug. 29, several Asian stock markets have high projected annual rates of return. Among the developed countries, Singapore has the highest projected annual return at 17.9%. With a total market valuation / gross national product ratio of just 20, the Russian stock market is severely undervalued.
U.S. companies trade at cheap prices, too
Even though the U.S. stock market is significantly overvalued, some sectors still trade at deeply low prices relative to their net-net working capital, one of Ben Graham’s criteria for stock investing. As implied by the table below, technology and health care companies offer the best opportunities based on price.
| Sector name | # of U.S. stocks on BGN screener list |
| Basic materials (101) | 6 |
| Consumer cyclical (102) | 12 |
| Financial services (103) | 8 |
| Real estate (104) | 2 |
| Consumer defensive (205) | 3 |
| Health care (206) | 88 |
| Utilities (207) | 0 |
| Communication services (308) | 0 |
| Energy (309) | 5 |
| Industrials (310) | 13 |
| Technology (311) | 47 |
As of Aug. 29, two biotechnology companies and one communication equipment company made both the Ben Graham Net-Net screener and the Walter Schloss screener. These two value screeners share common characteristics, as discussed in an earlier article. Such companies have no meaningful debt and trade near deeply low prices.
Despite having poor Piotroski F-scores and Beneish M-scores, Adverum Biotechnologies Inc. (ADVM, Financial) has the highest possible financial strength rank of 10. The biotech company has little or no debt: Advernum’s equity-to-asset ratio outperforms 91% of global biotech companies. Additionally, the company’s equity-to-asset ratio seldom dropped below 0.9 during the past two years, and the company’s interest coverage ratio is “10000,” the numeric code for “no debt.”
Like Adverum, Mirna Therapeutics Inc. (MIRN, Financial) also has little or no debt. With an Altman Z-score of 8.78, the oncology therapeutics company has almost no distress. Additionally, Mirna’s stock price is currently trading near 52-week lows.
Technical Communications Corp. (TCCO, Financial) currently has a financial strength rank of 9, suggesting a strong financial outlook. The company has a strong Altman Z-score, currently has no debt and has a higher equity-to-asset ratio than 97% of global communication equipment companies. Additionally, the technology company currently trades near 10-year lows.
Conclusions and see also
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Disclosure: The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
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