Credit: Shutterstock photoThe following are today's upgrades for Validea's Low PE Investor model based on the published strategy of John Neff . This strategy looks for firms with persisten t earnings growth that trade at a discount relative to their earnings growth and dividend yield.
SPARK ENERGY INC ( SPKE ) is a small-cap value stock in the Natural Gas Utilities industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 62% to 81% based on the firm's underlying fundamentals and the stock's valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.
Company Description: Spark Energy, Inc. is an independent retail energy services company. The Company provides residential and commercial customers across the United States with an alternative choice for their natural gas and electricity. The Company operates through two segments: Retail Natural Gas Segment and Retail Electricity Segment. The Retail Natural Gas segment consists of natural gas sales to, and natural gas transportation and distribution for, residential and commercial customers. It purchases natural gas supply through physical and financial transactions with market counterparts and supplies natural gas to residential and commercial consumers pursuant to fixed-price and variable-price. The Retail Electricity segment consists of electricity sales and transmission to residential and commercial customers. The Company has approximately 774,000 renewable energy credits (RCEs). As of July 5, 2017, the Company operates in 94 utility service territories across 19 states and the District of Columbia.
The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.
For a full detailed analysis using NASDAQ's Guru Analysis tool, click here
Since its inception, Validea's strategy based on John Neff has returned 119.89% vs. 132.99% for the S&P 500. For more details on this strategy, click here
About John Neff : While known as the manager with whom many top managers entrusted their own money, Neff was far from the smooth-talking, high-profile Wall Streeter you might expect. He was mild-mannered and low-key, and the same might be said of the Windsor Fund that he managed for more than three decades. In fact, Neff himself described the fund as "relatively prosaic, dull, [and] conservative." There was nothing dull about his results, however. From 1964 to 1995, Neff guided Windsor to a 13.7 percent average annual return, easily outpacing the S&P 500's 10.6 percent return during that time. That 3.1 percentage point difference is huge over time -- a $10,000 investment in Windsor (with dividends reinvested) at the start of Neff's tenure would have ended up as more than $564,000 by the time he retired, more than twice what the same investment in the S&P would have yielded (about $233,000). Considering the length of his tenure, that track record may be the best ever for a manager of such a large fund.
About Validea : Validea is an investment research service that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
%20a%20Buy%20as%20Wall%20Street%20Analysts%20Look%20Optimistic%3F%20%7C%20Nasdaq&_biz_n=4&rnd=111203&cdn_o=a&_biz_z=1741997081036)
