The following are today's upgrades for Validea's Book/Market Investor model based on the published strategy of Joseph Piotroski. This value-quant strategy screens for high book-to-market stocks, and then separates out financially sound firms by looking at a host of improving financial criteria.
LCNB CORP. (LCNB) is a small-cap value stock in the Regional Banks industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Joseph Piotroski changed from 0% to 80% 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: LCNB Corp. (LCNB) is a financial holding company. The Company's subsidiary includes LCNB National Bank (the Bank). The Bank offers commercial and personal banking services. Its services include safe deposit boxes, night depositories, cashier's checks, utility bill collections, notary public service, mobile banking and other services tailored for both individuals and businesses. Its loan products include commercial and industrial loans, commercial and residential real estate loans, various types of consumer loans and small business administration loans. Its investment portfolio includes securities available-for-sale, such as the United States Treasury notes, the United States Agency notes, Certificates of deposit, and Equity securities. Its deposit services include checking accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, lifetime checking accounts, individual retirement accounts and certificates of deposit.
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.
| BOOK/MARKET RATIO: | PASS |
| RETURN ON ASSETS: | PASS |
| CHANGE IN RETURN ON ASSETS: | PASS |
| CASH FLOW FROM OPERATIONS: | PASS |
| CASH COMPARED TO NET INCOME: | PASS |
| CHANGE IN LONG TERM DEBT/ASSETS | PASS |
| CHANGE IN CURRENT RATIO: | FAIL |
| CHANGE IN SHARES OUTSTANDING: | PASS |
| CHANGE IN GROSS MARGIN: | FAIL |
| CHANGE IN ASSET TURNOVER: | PASS |
Detailed Analysis of LCNB CORP.
KNOT OFFSHORE PARTNERS LP (KNOP) is a small-cap value stock in the Water Transportation industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Joseph Piotroski changed from 0% to 80% 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: KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOT Offshore Partners or the Partnership), owns, operates and acquires shuttle tankers under long-term charters. The Partnership's vessels in its fleet are chartered to Statoil ASA (Statoil), Petrobras Transporte S.A. (Transpetro), Repsol Sinopec Brasil, S.A. (Repsol), Royal Dutch Shell plc, ExxonMobil, and Eni Trading and Shipping S.p.A. (ENI). As of March 17, 2017, the Company had a fleet of 12 shuttle tankers. Its shuttle tankers include Fortaleza Knutsen, Recife Knutsen, Bodil Knutsen and Dan Cisne. KNOT Offshore Partners GP LLC is the general partner of the Partnership. It is engaged in the loading, transportation and storage of the crude oil using the vessels in its fleet. It provides all of these services under time charters and bareboat charters. As of December 31, 2016, eight of its shuttle tankers were chartered under time charters and four of its shuttle tankers were chartered under bareboat charters.
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.
| BOOK/MARKET RATIO: | PASS |
| RETURN ON ASSETS: | PASS |
| CHANGE IN RETURN ON ASSETS: | FAIL |
| CASH FLOW FROM OPERATIONS: | PASS |
| CASH COMPARED TO NET INCOME: | PASS |
| CHANGE IN LONG TERM DEBT/ASSETS | PASS |
| CHANGE IN CURRENT RATIO: | PASS |
| CHANGE IN SHARES OUTSTANDING: | PASS |
| CHANGE IN GROSS MARGIN: | FAIL |
| CHANGE IN ASSET TURNOVER: | PASS |
Detailed Analysis of KNOT OFFSHORE PARTNERS LP
More details on Validea's Joseph Piotroski strategy
About Joseph Piotroski: Piotroski isn't your typical Wall Street big shot. In fact, he's not even a professional investor. He's a good old numbers-crunching accountant and college professor. But in 2000, shortly after he started teaching at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, Piotroski published a groundbreaking paper in the Journal of Accounting Research entitled "Value Investing: The Use of Historical Financial Statement Information to Separate Winners from Losers". In it, Piotroski laid out an accounting-based stock-selection/shorting method that produced a 23 percent average annual back-tested return from 1976 through 1996 -- more than double the S&P 500's gain during that time. Piotroski's findings were reported in major financial publiations like SmartMoney. Today, he teaches accounting at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.
About Validea: Validea is aninvestment researchservice 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.
