The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 31,060.47 on Wednesday with a loss of 8.22 points or -0.03%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,809.84 for a gain of 8.65 points or 0.23%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 13,128.95 for a gain of 56.52 points or 0.43%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 22.21 for a loss of 1.12 points or -4.80%.

Wednesday's Market Movers

U.S. stocks closed mostly higher Wednesday. The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump for a second time, though Senate Majority Leader McConnell says the Senate will not reconvene early to take up the

Shares of Intel Corp. (INTC) soared over 7% Wednesday morning on the heels of the semiconductor giant appointing VMWare Inc. (VMW) CEO Pat Gelsinger as Intel's new CEO.

The news comes not even a month after the news came out on Dec. 23, 2020 that Third Point leader Daniel Loeb (Trades, Portfolio) sent a letter to Intel's Chairman of the Board Omar Ishrak urging the company's board of directors to seek strategic alternatives to regain its "gold standard of innovative microprocessor manufacturing" and earn back market share from competitors like Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)

The Parnassus Endeavor Fund (Trades, Portfolio) recently released its portfolio updates for the fourth quarter of 2020, which ended on Dec. 31.

The fund is part of Parnassus Investments, which follows a socially responsible value-based strategy, investing in a wide range of deeply discounted, out-of-favor stocks that have long-term competitive advantages and relevancy, quality management and positive scores on ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) criteria. It is managed by Senior Research Analyst Billy Hwan, CPA, CFA. Jerome Dodson (Trades, Portfolio), the founder of Parnassus Investments, stepped down from the board of trustees effective

Memory chip manufacturer Micron Technology Inc. (MU) reported its most recent quarterly results on Thursday after the markets closed. The results beat analyst expectations on revenue and earnings, but shares of the company are down more than 5% since Friday.

The company's stock is still up more than 80% since Aug. 21 and more than 123% since bottoming on March 18. Micron looks relatively overvalued based on its price-earnings ratio of 29.61 when compared to the Peter Lynch fair valuation, as shown in the above chart.

However, the company's performance in its

The following tech companies have grown their earnings per share over a five-year period. According to the GuruFocus discounted cash flow calculator as of Dec. 30, all of them also trade with a margin of safety.

Intel

Intel Corp.'s (INTC) earnings per share have grown 16.90% per annum over the past five years.

According to the DCF calculator, the stock is undervalued with an 42.88% margin of safety at $47.07 per share. The price-earnings ratio is 9.23. The share price has been as high as $69.29 and as low as $43.61 in the last year; it is currently 32.07%

December 29, 2020

Dr. Omar Ishrak

Chairman of the Board

Intel Corp

2200 Mission College Blvd

Santa Clara, CA 95052

Dear Dr. Ishrak:

As you know, Third Point LLC recently took a significant stake in Intel Corp (the "Company"). Despite its theoretical competitive advantage as the world's leading semiconductor business, Intel's shares have dramatically underperformed those of its peers on a one, three, and five-year basis. It has lost over $60 billion of market capitalization over the past year alone. Third Point has engaged with companies facing other versions of "rough patches" for over two decades, and we would like

On Tuesday morning, reports started rolling in that activist investor Daniel Loeb (Trades, Portfolio)'s firm, Third Point LLC, issued a letter to Intel Corp. (INTC) encouraging the company to explore "strategic alternatives."

Third Point is a New York-based investment firm founded by Loeb in 1995. The activist investor seeks to identify and push situations that will have a positive effect on the stocks that the firm owns, thus creating value for shareholders.

According to CNBC, which viewed a copy of the letter, the points Loeb made to support a change of pace for the company included the

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 30,335.67 on Tuesday with a loss of 68.30 points or -0.22%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,727.04 for a loss of 8.32 points or -0.22%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 12,850.22 for a loss of 49.20 points or -0.38%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 23.08 for a gain of 1.38 points or 6.36%.

Tuesday's market movers

U.S. stocks ended lower Tuesday. The House of Representatives passed a bill late Monday to increase stimulus checks to $2,000. Leaders in the Senate considered the possibility of an immediate vote on Tuesday, but objection

According to the Peter Lynch Stalwarts Screen, a Premium All-in-One Screener template, four stocks that have good growth potential and are modestly undervalued based on the GF Value measure are Intel Corp. (INTC), Maximus Inc. (MMS), SEI Investments Co. (SEIC) and Usana Health Sciences Inc. (USNA).

Lynch, the legendary manager of the Fidelity Magellan Fund during the 1980s, defined a stalwart as a well-established company that still offers long-term growth potential. The Screener lists certain criteria for stalwarts, including 10-year revenue and earnings growth rates between 8% and 20%, 10 years of profitability over the

According to the GuruFocus discounted cash flow calculator as of Dec. 18, the following companies have a high margin of safety and have grown their margins over a 10-year period.

Comcast

Comcast Corp.'s (CMCSA) net margin and operating margin have grown by 10.86% and 20.92% per annum over the past 10 years.

According to the DCF calculator, the stock is undervalued with a 16.82% margin of safety at $51.43 per share. The price-earnings ratio is 23.06. The share price has been as high as $52.49 and as low as $31.71 in the last 52 weeks; it is currently 2.02% below

GuruFocus had the pleasure of hosting a presentation with Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio), the president of Auxier Asset Management LLC and founder of the Auxier Focus Fund.

Prior to forming Auxier Asset Management in 1998, Auxier spent 16 years at Smith Barney, formerly Foster Marshall American Express, then Shearson where he was on the portfolio management advisory board and the chairman's council. He also served as senior vice president of investments and senior portfolio management director. Auxier graduated with honors from the University of Oregon with a degree in finance and an emphasis on accounting. Auxier and

Among the various preset screeners that GuruFocus offers to help users identify potential value opportunities, one of the more popular ones is the "High Quality" screener.

This screener looks for the stocks of companies that live up to a wide range of high expectations for profitability, growth and financial strength, such as a financial strength score of at least 6 out of 10, a profitability score of at least 7 out of 10, a five-year revenue growth rate of 5% or more and a five-year earnings per share without non-recurring items growth rate of 10% or more, among others.

The

As we look ahead to the Christmas holiday, GuruFocus users have placed several stocks on their Christmas wish lists. According to GuruFocus Baskets statistics, the six most-popular stocks in the "Considering" virtual basket as of Wednesday are Biogen Inc. (BIIB), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Intel Corp. (INTC), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Facebook Inc. (FB) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).

The GuruFocus Baskets feature follows Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A)(BRK.B) co-managers Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) and Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio)'s theory of achieving higher returns by investing only within one's "circle of competence." GuruFocus

If you are looking for bargain opportunities, you may want to consider the three stocks listed below, as they match the following criteria:

• A price-earnings ratio below 20
• A low enterprise-value-to-Ebitda ratio compared to the historical mean of the S&P 500 over the past six and a half years (which stands at around 12.6 as of the writing of this article)
• A solid dividend growth surpassing the S&P 500, which saw its dividend per share grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 5.03% over the past three years through Sept. 30

Intel Corp

The

MFP Investors leader Michael Price (Trades, Portfolio) disclosed his firm's third-quarter portfolio last month.

The guru's New York-based hedge fund, which he founded in 1998, utilizes a value-based investing style to find out-of-favor small caps that trade at an attractive valuation. Price has been known to take an activist approach to his investments as well, seeking to improve profitability and unlock value.

Keeping these considerations in mind, the guru established 12 new positions during the quarter, sold out of four holdings and added to or trimmed a number of other existing investments. Among his most notable trades

Very few chief executives have been buying their own company's stock lately. In a computer search this weekend, I could find only three who bought shares in a significant quantity since the beginning of October.

Biogen

Michel Vounatsos, the CEO of Biogen Inc. (BIIB), shelled out $748,061 on Nov. 30 to add to his hoard of shares in the Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech company. In all, he holds more than $9 million worth at current quotes.

Investors have focused hypnotically on Biogen's proposed Alzheimer's treatment, aducanumab. In early November, Biogen stock fell 31% in a day when a Food and Drug

Polaris Capital Management leader Bernard Horn (Trades, Portfolio) released his third-quarter portfolio earlier this week.

Seeking to generate strong risk-adjusted returns and capital appreciation, the guru's Boston-based firm invests in discounted but high-quality stocks in developed as well as emerging markets.

Keeping these criteria in mind, Horn's firm entered five new positions during the quarter, which were Tapestry Inc. (TPR), Ingredion Inc. (INGR), Intel Corp. (INTC), Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) and Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC). It also sold out of seven stocks and added to or reduced a number of other existing holdings.

Tapestry

Polaris