In light of U.S. gross domestic product surging at a rate higher than the Dow Jones consensus estimate, five Standard & Poor’s 500 index stocks that have high quality and have outperformed the benchmark during October are Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG, Financial), CoStar Group Inc. (CSGP, Financial), Visa Inc. (V, Financial), Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO, Financial) and Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (ODFL, Financial) according to the All-in-One Screener, a Premium feature of GuruFocus.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 32,033.28, up 194.17 points from the previous close of 31,839.11 on the back of GDP increasing 2.6% during the third quarter, up from the consensus estimate of 2.3% growth.
Stocks gained as investors speculated that the rising GDP hinted at waning inflation. According to the S&P 500 Aggregated Statistics Chart, a Premium feature, the mean day’s change of the S&P 500 stocks was 0.10% with a median of 0.28%.
As such, GuruFocus’ All-in-One Screener listed several S&P 500 stocks that have high profitability and business predictability and have outperformed the benchmark by at least 5% over the past month.
Intuitive Surgical
Shares of Intuitive Surgical (ISRG, Financial) traded around $240.50, showing the stock is modestly undervalued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.76 as of Thursday. The stock has outperformed the S&P 500 by approximately 23.73% over the past month.
The Sunnyvale, California-based invasive surgery care company has a GF Score of 95 out of 100, driven by a rank of 10 out of 10 for growth and financial strength and a rank of 9 out of 10 for profitability and GF Value despite momentum ranking just 5 out of 10.
Intuitive Surgical’s profitability ranks 9 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a 3.5-star business predictability rank and an operating margin that outperforms more than 89% of global competitors despite declining by approximately 4.3% per year on average over the past five years.
Gurus with holdings in Intuitive Surgical include Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio)’s Fisher Investments and Baillie Gifford (Trades, Portfolio).
CoStar Group
Shares of CoStar Group (CSGP, Financial) traded around $81.01, showing the stock is modestly undervalued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.85 as of Thursday. The stock has outperformed the S&P 500 benchmark by approximately 10.32% over the past month.
The Northwest, Washington-based real estate company has a GF Score of 98 out of 100, driven by a rank of 10 out of 10 for momentum and growth, a rank of 9 out of 10 for profitability and GF Value and a rank of 8 out of 10 for financial strength.
CoStar’s profitability ranks 9 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a 4.5-star business predictability rank, a gross margin that outperforms more than 88% of global competitors and an operating margin that has increased approximately 3.7% per year on average over the past five years.
Visa
Shares of Visa (V, Financial) traded around $203.67, showing the stock is modestly undervalued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.77 as of Thursday. The stock has outperformed the S&P 500 benchmark by approximately 9.96% over the past month.
The San Francisco-based payment processing company has a GF Score of 99 out of 100 based on a rank of 10 out of 10 for profitability and growth, a GF Value rank of 9 out of 10, a momentum rank of 8 out of 10 and a financial strength rank of 7 out of 10.
Visa’s profitability ranks 10 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a five-star business predictability rank, a high Piotroski F-score of 8 out of 9, an operating margin that outperforms more than 87% of global competitors and a return on equity that tops more than 96% of global credit service companies.
Gurus with holdings in Visa include Fisher Investments and Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio)’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, Financial)(BRK.B, Financial).
Cisco Systems
Shares of Cisco Systems (CSCO, Financial) traded around $44.42, showing the stock is modestly undervalued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.89. The stock has outperformed the benchmark by approximately 5.99% over the past month.
The San Jose, California-based networking equipment company has a GF Score of 93 out of 100 based on a profitability rank of 10 out of 10, a growth rank of 9 out of 10, a financial strength rank of 7 out of 10, a GF Value rank of 6 out of 10 and a momentum rank of 5 out of 10.
Cisco’s profitability ranks 10 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a 4.5-star business predictability rank, a high Piotroski F-score of 7 out of 9 and profit margins and returns that outperform more than 90% of global competitors.
Old Dominion Freight Line
Shares of Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL, Financial) traded around $264.41, showing the stock is modestly undervalued based on its price-to-GF Value ratio of 0.80 as of Thursday. The stock has outperformed the S&P 500 benchmark by approximately 5.88% over the past month.
The Thomasville, North Carolina-based trucking company has a GF Score of 99 out of 100, driven by a rank of 10 out of 10 for profitability and growth, a financial strength rank of 9 out of 10, a momentum rank of 8 out of 10 and a GF Value rank of 7 out of 10.
Old Dominion’s profitability ranks 10 out of 10 on several positive investing signs, which include a five-star business predictability rank, a high Piotroski F-score of 8 out of 9 and profit margins and returns that are outperforming more than 86% of global competitors.
