Best Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now

With the Dow Jones Industrials (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) at a new record high, cautious investors are starting to pay attention to valuation more closely than ever on the stocks that interest them. Yet whenever you use simple measures to try to assess whether a stock is cheap or expensive, you need to understand that your conclusions are only as strong as the accuracy of the data. If you rely on numbers that might not be correct, then you could make mistakes in your evaluation of a stock's true value.

Book value is a great example of how financial numbers can be misleading. Let's look at the four cheapest stocks in the Dow in terms of price-to-book ratios and try to assess whether those stocks are actually good values at their current prices.

A valuation that's lighter than aluminum
Among Dow stocks, Alcoa (NYSE: AA  ) has the cheapest valuation based on price-to-book ratio, with shares fetching just 68% of book value. The aluminum industry overall is in terrible condition, and so peers such as Chinalco also trade at similar levels compared to book value. For its part, Alcoa has had to shutter some of its production facilities recently, strongly suggesting that its plant and equipment items on its balance sheet aren't necessarily producing as much profit as their book value would suggest.

Best Value Stocks To Own For 2015: Conn's Inc.(CONN)

Conn?s, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of home appliances, consumer electronics, home office equipment, lawn and garden products, mattresses, and furniture in the United States. Its home appliances products include refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers, ranges, and room air conditioners; consumer electronics products consist of LED, LCD, plasma, DLP and 3-D televisions, camcorders, digital cameras, Blu-ray and DVD players, video game equipment, portable audio, MP3 players, GPS devices, and home theater products; and furniture and mattresses include living room, bedroom, and dining room furniture. The company's products also comprise lawn and garden equipment, which includes lawn mowers, lawn tractors, and handheld equipment; and home office equipment, including computers, notebooks, and computer accessories. It also offers repair service agreements and customer credit programs, including installment and revolving credit account programs, and various credit insurance products. In addition, the company sells its products online. As of January 20, 2012, it operated 70 retail locations in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. The company was founded in 1890 and is headquartered in Beaumont, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Conns (NASDAQ: CONN) were down 32.47 percent to $37.68 after the company issued a weak Q4 profit forecast. Oppenheimer downgraded the stock from Outperform to Market Perform and cut the price target from $92.00 to $44.00.

Best Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: United Rentals Inc.(URI)

United Rentals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental company. It offers approximately 3,000 classes of equipment for rent to customers comprising construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and government entities. The company?s fleet of rental equipment includes general construction and industrial equipment, such as backhoes, skid-steer loaders, forklifts, earthmoving equipment, and material handling equipment; aerial work platforms consisting of boom lifts and scissor lifts; and general tools and light equipment, including pressure washers, water pumps, generators, heaters, and power tools. Its fleet also comprise trench safety equipment, such as trench shields, aluminum hydraulic shoring systems, slide rails, crossing plates, construction lasers, and line testing equipment for underground work; and power and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, which consists of portable diesel generators, electrical distribution equipment, and temperature control equipment, including heating and cooling equipment. In addition, the company sells new and used equipment, as well as related contractor supplies, parts, and service; and offers repair, maintenance, and rental protection services. Further, it develops and markets RENTALMAN, an enterprise resource planning application for equipment rental companies; and INFOMANAGER, which offers solution for creating a business intelligence system. As of January 1, 2012, the company had an integrated network of 529 rental locations in the United States and Canada. United Rentals, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Like many companies this year, United Rentals (URI) announced an acquisition and saw its shares price pop.

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Reuters has the details on United Rentals’ big buy:

  United Rentals Inc, the world’s largest equipment rental company, said on Sunday it had agreed to acquire privately held National Pump, the second-largest specialty pump rental company in North America, for $780 million.

  The deal marks United Rentals’ foray into the pump rental sector, which is benefiting from increased demand from energy and petrochemical companies tapping into the shale gas boom in the United States. Upstream oil and gas customers account for about half of National Pump’s revenue.

  Citigroup’s Timothy Thein and Saree Boroditsky like the deal:

  We see the announced acquisition of National Pump, the second largest pump specialty rental company in NA (with ~15% share), and related assets, to be a positive on many fronts. It expands�[United Rentals'] presence in to the high margin, high ROA specialty rental market (19% of pro-forma sales), evidenced by National�� high dollar utilization (80%, vs. 47% for URI) and EBITDA margins. With ~65% of National�� sales coming from Oil&Gas and Petrochem markets, the deal gives URI added exposure to two powerful secular trends (US energy independence and manufacturing ��enaissance��, which helps support above-avg growth potential for this category ([United Rentals] ests ~9% LT growth). We think the 6.5x EBITDA multiple (7.6x adj. EBITDA excluding cash tax savings) is reasonable given the attractive margins / return profile, and the fact that it provides synergy opportunities and a strong base off which�[United Rentals] can grow ([United Rentals] plans to double the size of the pump business within five years). Deal expected to be accretive to FCF and EPS in ��4 (closing anticipated early 2Q14). Lastly, we would suspect this deal takes�[United Rentals] out

• [By Holly LaFon]

  United Rentals (URI), one of RSC�� largest competitors, had a rental revenue increase of 18.5% in the fourth quarter compared to last year, which included a 6.7% increase in rental rates.

• [By John Bonnanzio]

  The fund�� top holdings are Telsa, Henry Schein (HSIC), United Rentals (URI), Gartner (IT) and Kansas City Southern (KSU).

  The fund also has some exposure to pricey biotech. Even so, this is hardly a shoot-the-lights-out growth fund as volatility is below all his mid-cap peers. To that end, this trade actually tempers risk while increasing growth exposure.

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  I went out on a limb last week, and now it's time to see how that decision played out.

  I predicted that People's United Financial (NASDAQ: PBCT  ) would close higher on the week. The regional banker had come up short on the bottom line in its two previous quarters, and the prior week closed with uninspiring earnings news out of the banking behemoths. People's United managed to match expectations on an operating basis, but the market was skeptical of financial services institutions this week. People's United Financial shares closed lower on the week. I was right. I predicted that the tech-heavy Nasdaq would outperform the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (DJINDICES: ^DJI  ) . This has been a tricky call lately, so how did it play out this time? Well, the market was rocked hard this week, and secondary stocks led the way down. The Nasdaq fell 2.7% on the week. The Dow managed to close just 2.1% lower. I was wrong. My final call was for United Rentals (NYSE: URI  ) to beat Wall Street's quarterly profit target. The provider of equipment rentals with 836 outlets across the country has been beating Wall Street estimates consistently over the past year. Why should that end? Analysts were looking for a profit of $0.47 a share during the quarter, and it came through with adjusted net income of $0.58. I was right.

  Two out of three? I can do better than that.

Best Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: Mack-Cali Realty Corporation (CLI)

Mack-Cali Realty Corporation is a real estate investment trust (REIT). It engages in the leasing, management, acquisition, development, and construction of commercial real estate properties in the United States. The firm invests in the real estate markets of the United States primarily in the northeastern United States, as well as in the District of Columbia. It primarily invests in office and office/flex buildings, totaling approximately 30.0 million square feet, and developable land. The firm�s properties also include industrial/warehouse buildings, retail properties, a hotel, and parcels of land leased. Mack-Cali Realty was incorporated in 1994 and is based in Cranford, New Jersey.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Burrows]

  Mack-Cali Realty (CLI)

  CLI Price/LFCF: 6.5
  CLI Dividend Yield: 5.5%

  Real estate investment trusts are dividend stocks that tend to have firehoses of levered free cash. That’s because once a month, every month, the rent checks and get paid and those payments pile up.

Best Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: LTX-Credence Corporation(LTXC)

LTX-Credence Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, and services automated test equipment solutions for the wireless, computing, automotive, and consumer markets. The company?s product portfolio includes Diamond platform, a package for testing microcontrollers and cost sensitive consumer devices; X-Series platform that offers configurations for optimal testing of ASSP and ASIC, power, automotive, mixed signal, and RF applications; and ASL platform, which is used for testing linear, low-end mixed signal, precision analog, and power management devices. The company also provides various services, including installation and maintenance of test systems, servicing of spare parts, parts and labor warranties on test systems, and training on the maintenance and operation of test systems. LTX-Credence Corporation sells its products through direct sales organization and distributors in the United States, Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea, and southeast Asia. The company was founded i n 1976 and is headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  LTX-Credence Corporation (Nasdaq:LTXC), a global provider of market focused, cost-optimized ATE solutions, reported that it will present at the Barclays Capital Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 4:15 PM EDT. This event will be available over the Internet via live webcast.

Best Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: Micropac Industries Inc (MPAD)

Micropac Industries, Inc. (Micropac), incorporated on March 3, 1969, manufactures and distributes various types of hybrid microelectronic circuits, solid state relays, power operational amplifiers, and optoelectronic components and assemblies. Micropac�� products are used as components in a range of military, space and industrial systems, including aircraft instrumentation and navigation systems, power supplies, electronic controls, computers, medical devices, and high-temperature (200o degree Celsius) products. The Company�� products are either custom (being application-specific circuits designed and manufactured to meet the particular requirements of a single customer) or standard components. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011 (fiscal 2011), its custom-designed components accounted for approximately 34% of its revenue and standard components accounted for approximately 66% of its revenue.

Micropac occupies approximately 36,000 square feet of manufacturing, engineering and office space in Garland, Texas. The Company owns 31,200 square feet of that space and leases an additional 4,800 square feet. It also sub-contracts some manufacturing to Inmobiliaria San Jose De Ciuddad Juarez S.A. DE C.V, a maquila contract manufacturer in Juarez, Mexico.

Micropac provides microelectronic and optoelectronic components and assemblies along with contract electronic manufacturing services, and offers a range of products sold to the industrial, medical, military, aerospace and space markets. The Microcircuits product line includes custom microcircuits, solid state relays, power operational amplifiers, and regulators. During fiscal 2011, microcircuits product line accounted for 51% of its revenue and the optoelectronics product line accounted for 62% of its business respectively. The Company�� core technology is the packaging and interconnects of miniature electronic components, utilizing thick film and thin film substrates, forming microelectronics circuits. Other technologi! es include light emitting and light sensitive materials and products, including light emitting diodes and silicon phototransistors used in its optoelectronic components, and assemblies.

The Company�� basic products and technologies include custom design hybrid microelectronic circuits, solid state relays and power controllers, custom optoelectronic assemblies and components, optocouplers, light-emitting diodes, Hall-Effect devices, displays, power operational amplifiers, fiber optic components and assemblies, and high temperature (200o degree Celsius) products. Micropac�� products are primarily sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEM��) who serve major markets, which includes military/aerospace, such as aircraft instrumentation, guidance and navigations systems, control circuitry, power supplies and laser positioning; space, which include control circuitry, power monitoring and sensing, and industrial, which includes power control equipment and robotics.

The Company�� products are marketed throughout the United States and in Western Europe. During fiscal 2011, approximately 21% of the Company�� revenue was from international customers. The Company�� major customers include contractors to the United States Government. During fiscal 2010, sales to these customers for the Department of Defense (DOD) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contracts accounted for approximately 62% of its revenues. The Company�� customers are Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Rockwell Int��, and NASA.

The Company compete with Teledyne Industries, Inc., MS Kennedy, Honeywell, Avago and International Rectifier.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon] % of NCAV, has similar (slightly better) z- and f-scores, a FCF margin of 6%, but has ROA of 28%.
  
  ADDvantage (AEY) sells at 95% of NCAV, has similar (in the ballpark) scores and FCF and ROA of 23%.

  The slightly better businesses are currently more expensive in terms of price/NCAV. They have less asset-based downside protection, but they are better businesses.

  How do you quantify and qualify what is cheap enough? To me, there's a big difference in relative cheapness in a company selling at 74% of NCAV versus one selling at 95%. I'm wondering if I'm putting too much weight on this cheapness measurement instead of acknowledging that any decent business selling at less than NCAV is cheap enough. Yet, one has to have some quantifiable idea of when something is not cheap enough anymore.

  Can you help me put this into a unified framework?

  Dan

  There�� a great post over at Oddball Stocks called: �� Stock is a Business�� Read it. Then go over to Richard Beddard�� Interactive Investor Blog. Bookmark that blog. Read it religiously. He looks at Ben Graham type stocks in the U.K. And he looks at them not just as stocks but as pieces of a business.

  Here�� what Richard said in a post called ��iving Up on Mastery of the Universe��

  I need to know:

  1. Whether the managers have made good decisions in the past, and whether their incentives work in the interests of the owners, because those kind of managers often add value to a company.

  2. The products a company sells will still be in demand for years to come, because if they��e not then the past, which we know, does not tell us anything about the future, which we don��.

  3. A company is financially strong enough to withstand the kinds of shocks companies typically experience bearing in mind some are more sensitive to events than others.

  4. How to judge whether the share price undervalues the company, bearing in mind the preceding three factors.

• [By Geoff Gannon] strong>ADDvantage Technologies (AEY)

  路 Solitron Devices (SODI)

  路 OPT-Sciences (OPST)

  Micropac

  Micropac is 76% owned by Heinz-Werner Hempel. He�� a German businessman. You can see the German company he founded here. He�� had control of Micropac for a long-time. I don�� have an exact number in front of me. But I would guess it�� been something like 25 years.

  ADDvantage

  ADDvantage Technologies is controlled by the Chymiak brothers. See the company�� April 4 press release explaining their decision to turn over the CEO position to an outsider. Regardless, the Chymiaks still control 47% of the company. Ken Chymiak is now chairman. And David Chymiak is still a director and now the company�� chief technology officer. Clearly, it�� still their company.

  By the way, the name ADDvantage Technologies has nothing to do with the Chymiaks. Today�� AEY really traces its roots to a private company called Tulsat. The Chymiak brothers acquired that company about 27 years ago. So, effectively, when you buy shares of AEY you are buying into a 27-year-old family-controlled company.

  That�� pretty typical in the world of net-nets.

  Solitron

  Solitron Devices is 29% owned by Shevach Saraf. He has been the CEO for 20 years. The post-bankruptcy Solitron has never known another CEO. Before the bankruptcy, Solitron was a much bigger, much different company. So even though we are not talking about the founder here ��and even though 70% of the company�� shares are not held by the CEO ��we��e still talking about a company where one person has a lot of control. Solitron only has three directors. Saraf is the chairman, CEO, president, CFO and treasurer. Neither of the other two directors joined the board within the last 15 years. So, we aren�� talking about a lot of tumult at the top.

  In fact, profitable net-nets seem to be especially common candidates for abandoning the responsibilities of a public comp

Best Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: Homeowners Choice Inc.(HCII)

Homeowners Choice, Inc., an insurance holding company, provides property and casualty insurance in Florida. The company provides property and casualty homeowners? insurance, condominium owners? insurance, and tenants? insurance to individuals owning property. It serves approximately 59,500 policyholders primarily through independent agents. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By CRWE]

  Homeowners Choice, Inc. (Nasdaq:HCII), a Florida-based insurance holding company, reported that its board of directors has declared cash dividends of 5.833 cents per share on its Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (“HCIIP”) for the months ending September 30, October 31 and November 30, 2012.

Best Cheapest Companies To Own In Right Now: Five Oaks Investment Corp (OAKS)

Five Oaks Investment Corp., incorporated on March 28, 2012, focused on investing in, financing and managing a leveraged portfolio of Agency and Non-Agency residential mortgage-backed securities, or RMBS, residential mortgage loans and other mortgage-related investments. The Company invests in both Agency RMBS and Non-Agency RMBS.

As of December 31, 2012, the Company�� portfolio consisted of Agency RMBS and Non-Agency RMBS. The Company is managed by Oak Circle Capital Partners LLC.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Five Oaks Investment Corp. (NYSE: OAKS) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

  Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.