6 Stocks Beating the Benchmark

Adobe, Autodesk among companies that outperformed the S&P 500 over the past year

Author's Avatar
Oct 04, 2017
Article's Main Image

According to GuruFocus' All-In-One Guru Screener, the following stocks have outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 Index over the last 12 months and were bought by gurus during the last quarter.

With a market cap of $5.81 billion, Aecom (ACM, Financial) has outperformed the S&P 500 Index by 6.8% over the past 12 months.

Its shares are trading with a price-book (P/B) ratio of 1.56. According to the discounted cash flow (DCF) calculator, the stock is overpriced by 112% at $37.06 per share. The price is 40.06% above its 52-week low and 8.99% below its 52-week high.

The company has a profitability and growth rating of 7 out of 10. Its return on equity (ROE) of 7.35% and return on assets (ROA) of 1.88% are underperforming 62% of other companies in the Global Engineering and Construction industry. Financial strength has a rating of 5 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 0.21 is below the industry median of 0.96.

The company’s largest shareholder among the gurus is PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio) with 8.52% of outstanding shares, followed by Richard Pzena (Trades, Portfolio) with 1.42%, Richard Snow (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.14% and Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.08%.

With a market cap of $72.93 billion, Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE, Financial) has outperformed the benchmark by 20.4% over the past year.

Its shares are trading with a P/B ratio of 8.95. According to the DCF calculator, the stock is overpriced by 333% at $147.94 per share. The price is 50.96% above its 52-week low and 6.30% below its 52-week high.

The company has a profitability and growth rating of 8 out of 10. Its ROE of 20.80% and ROA of 12.17% are outperforming 83% of other companies in the Global Software – Application industry. Financial strength has a rating of 7 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 2.84 is below the industry median of 6.56.

PRIMECAP Management is the company's largest shareholder among the gurus with 4.95% of outstanding shares, followed by Frank Sands (Trades, Portfolio) with 1.34% and Spiros Segalas (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.92%.

With a market cap of $48.59 billion, Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP, Financial) has outperformed the benchmark by 9.5% over the past 12 months.

Its shares are trading with a P/B ratio of 12.22. According to the DCF calculator, the stock is overpriced by 160% at $109.32 per share. The price is 27.89% above its 52-week low and 10.22% below its 52-week high.

The company has a profitability and growth rating of 7 out of 10. Its ROE of 42.02% and ROA of 4.35% are outperforming 57% of other companies in the Global Business Services industry. Financial strength has a rating of 6 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 1.39 is above the industry median of 1.37.

With 8.28% of outstanding shares, Bill Ackman (Trades, Portfolio) is the company's largest guru shareholder, followed by Bill Nygren (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.77%, First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.35% and Cohen with 0.27%.

With a market cap of $24.65 billion, Autodesk Inc. (ADSK, Financial) has outperformed the benchmark by 32.8% over the past year.

Its shares are trading with a P/B ratio of 78.54. The price is 67.49% above its 52-week low and 6.06% below its 52-week high.

The company has a profitability and growth rating of 6 out of 10. Its ROE of -74.67% and ROA of -12.57% are underperforming 91% of other companies in the Global Software – Application industry. Financial strength has a rating of 4 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 1.08 is below the industry median of 0.60.

Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) is the company's largest guru shareholder with 0.64% of outstanding shares, followed by John Griffin (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.46%, Stanley Druckenmiller (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.16% and Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.12%.

With a market cap of $11.78 billion, Aegon NV (AEG, Financial) has outperformed the benchmark by 40.8% over the past 12 months.

Its shares are trading with a P/B ratio of 0.43. According to the DCF calculator, the stock is undervalued with a margin of safety of 31% at $5.76 per share. The price is 50.39% above its 52-week low and 4.95% below its 52-week high.

The company has a profitability and growth rating of 2 out of 10. Its ROE of 5.95% and ROA of 0.38% are underperforming 82% of other companies in the Global Insurance - Diversified industry. Financial strength has a rating of 6 out of 10 with a cash-debt ratio of 0.82.

The company’s largest shareholder among the gurus is Dodge & Cox with 5.27% of outstanding shares, followed by Charles Brandes (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.61% and Simons with 0.02%.

With a market cap of $8.41 billion, AerCap Holdings NV (AER, Financial) has outperformed the benchmark by 15.8% over the past year.

Its shares are trading with a P/B ratio of 0.98. According to the DCF calculator, the stock is undervalued with a margin of safety of 56% at $51.46 per share. The price is 34.71% above its 52-week low and 0.44% below its 52-week high.

The company has a profitability and growth rating of 8 out of 10. While its ROE of 13.41% is outperforming the sector, its ROA of 2.72% is underperforming 51% of other companies in the Global Airports and Air Services industry. Financial strength has a rating of 4 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 0.06 is below the industry median of 0.34.

David Einhorn (Trades, Portfolio) is the company's largest guru shareholder with 7.62% of outstanding shares, followed by Donald Smith (Trades, Portfolio) with 5.42%, Leon Cooperman (Trades, Portfolio) with 1.32% and Mohnish Pabrai (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.61%.

Disclosure: I do not own any shares of any stocks mentioned in this article.