In my opinion, investors may want to have a look at the following three stocks, as they meet the below value criteria:
- These stocks do not appear expensive, as their price-earnings ratios stand below 20.
- Their earnings and revenue, both on a per share basis, have advanced over the past five years, while no losses were reported during the observed period.
- These stocks have positive recommendation ratings among sell-side analysts on Wall Street.
Sun Life Financial Inc
The first stock to consider is Sun Life Financial Inc (SLF, Financial), a Toronto, Canada-based provider of several financial services such as asset management, insurance and wealth management to North American and international clients.
The company saw its trailing 12-month revenue per share increase by 8.5% and its trailing 12-month earnings per share (EPS) without non-recurring items (NRI) increase by 5.6% over the past five years.
The price-earnings ratio (15.42 as of Thursday) increased 0.6% per year on average over the years in question.
The stock traded at around $49.16 per share at close on Thursday for a market cap of $28.78 billion and a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 3.32%.
GuruFocus assigned a financial strength rating of 5 out of 10 and a profitability rating of 6 out of 10 to the company.
Wall Street sell-side analysts recommend a median rating of overweight for this stock and have established an average target price of $53.48 per share.
Grand Canyon Education Inc
The second stock to consider is Grand Canyon Education Inc (LOPE, Financial), a Phoenix, Arizona-based provider of higher education services in the U.S.
The trailing 12-month revenue per share increased by 2.1% every year over the past five years. The trailing 12-month EPS without NRI has grown by 18.6% per annum over the past five years, exceeding the 1.7% per year growth of the price-earnings ratio (which stands at 19.69 as of Thursday).
The stock was trading at around $102.18 per share at close on Thursday for a market cap of $4.79 billion.
Grand Canyon Education Inc does not pay dividends.
GuruFocus assigned a score of 8 out of 10 to both the company's financial strength rating and its profitability rating.
Wall Street sell-side analysts recommend a median rating of buy for this stock and have established an average target price of $116 per share.
Investors Bancorp Inc
The third stock investors may want to consider is Investors Bancorp Inc (ISBC, Financial), a Short Hills, New Jersey-based regional bank serving individuals and businesses in the U.S.
The company saw its trailing 12-month revenue per share increase by 10.6% and its trailing 12-month EPS without NRI increase by 10.9% per year over the past five years.
The price-earnings ratio (13.62 as of Thursday) has grown by only 0.8% over the observed years.
The stock traded at around $12.80 per share at close on Thursday for a market capitalization of $3.2 billion and a dividend yield of 3.91%.
GuruFocus assigned the company a score of 2 out of 10 for its financial strength rating and of 5 out of 10 for the profitability rating.
Wall Street sell-side analysts recommend a median rating of buy for this stock and have established an average target price of $14.08 per share.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any securities mentioned.
Read more here:
- 3 Stock Picks for the Value Investor
- A Trio of Fast Growing Earnings Stocks
- 3 Long-Term Payers Announce Dividends
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