The following are today's upgrades for Validea's Price/Sales Investor model based on the published strategy of Kenneth Fisher. This value strategy rewards stocks with low P/S ratios, long-term profit growth, strong free cash flow and consistent profit margins.
PERFORMANT FINANCIAL CORP (PFMT) is a small-cap value stock in the Business Services industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Kenneth Fisher changed from 48% to 60% 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: Performant Financial Corporation is a provider of technology-enabled audit, recovery and analytics services in the United States with a focus in the healthcare payment integrity services industry. The Company works with healthcare payers through claims auditing and eligibility-based services to identify improper payments. It engages clients in both government and commercial markets. The Company also has a call center, which serves clients with multifaceted consumer engagement needs. The components of its platform include Data Management Expertise and Data Analytics Capabilities. Its platform manages and stores large amounts of data throughout its workflow process. This data includes a combination of both publicly available information, as well as its own and client specific data, the combination of which creates a robust input for claims review and selections. Its data analytics capabilities efficiently screen and allocate massive volumes of claims inventory.
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.
| PRICE/SALES RATIO: | PASS |
| TOTAL DEBT/EQUITY RATIO: | PASS |
| PRICE/RESEARCH RATIO: | PASS |
| PRICE/SALES RATIO: | FAIL |
| LONG-TERM EPS GROWTH RATE: | FAIL |
| FREE CASH PER SHARE: | FAIL |
| THREE YEAR AVERAGE NET PROFIT MARGIN: | FAIL |
Detailed Analysis of PERFORMANT FINANCIAL CORP
FINVOLUTION GROUP - ADR (FINV) is a small-cap value stock in the Software & Programming industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Kenneth Fisher changed from 50% to 90% 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: FinVolution Group, formerly PPDAI GROUP INC, is a China-based company mainly engaged in operating an online consumer finance platform. The Company's products and services include loan services offered to borrowers, investment services offered to individual investors and institutional funding partners. The loan services offered to borrowers include standard loan products, consumption loan products and other loan products. The investment services offered to individual investors include self-discretionary investing tools, automated investing tools, investment programs and a secondary loan market. The Company also introduces borrowers to institutional funding partners and provides preliminary credit assessment services as well as other services.
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.
| PRICE/SALES RATIO: | PASS |
| TOTAL DEBT/EQUITY RATIO: | PASS |
| PRICE/RESEARCH RATIO: | PASS |
| PRICE/SALES RATIO: | PASS |
| LONG-TERM EPS GROWTH RATE: | FAIL |
| FREE CASH PER SHARE: | PASS |
| THREE YEAR AVERAGE NET PROFIT MARGIN: | PASS |
Detailed Analysis of FINVOLUTION GROUP - ADR
VILLAGE FARMS INTERNATIONAL INC (VFF) is a small-cap value stock in the Crops industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Kenneth Fisher changed from 48% to 60% 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: Village Farms International, Inc. is a vertically integrated greenhouse grower in North America. The Company's segments include Produce, Cannabis-Canada, Cannabis-U.S. and Energy. The Produce segment produces, markets and sells tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers. The Cannabis-Canada segment produces and supplies cannabis products to be sold to other licensed providers and provincial governments across Canada and internationally. The Cannabis-U.S segment develops and sells cannabidiol (CBD) based health and wellness products, including ingestible, edible and topical applications. The Energy business produces power that it sells according to a long-term contract to customer. The Company owns and operates agricultural greenhouse facilities in British Columbia and Texas, and it produces, markets and sells tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers. The Company is also a producer and supplier of cannabis products.
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.
| PRICE/SALES RATIO: | PASS |
| TOTAL DEBT/EQUITY RATIO: | PASS |
| PRICE/RESEARCH RATIO: | PASS |
| PRICE/SALES RATIO: | FAIL |
| LONG-TERM EPS GROWTH RATE: | FAIL |
| FREE CASH PER SHARE: | FAIL |
| THREE YEAR AVERAGE NET PROFIT MARGIN: | FAIL |
Detailed Analysis of VILLAGE FARMS INTERNATIONAL INC
More details on Validea's Kenneth Fisher strategy
About Kenneth Fisher: The son of Philip Fisher, who is considered the "Father of Growth Investing", Kenneth Fisher is a money manager, bestselling author, and longtime Forbes columnist. The younger Fisher wowed Wall Street in the mid-1980s when his book Super Stocks first popularized the idea of using the price/sales ratio (PSR) as a means of identifying attractive stocks. According to his alma mater, Humboldt State University, Fisher is also one of the world's foremost experts on 19th century logging. Appropriately, Fisher's firm, Fisher Investments, is located in a lush forest preserve in Woodside, California, where the contrarian-minded Fisher says he and his employees can get away from Wall Street groupthink.
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.
