The 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 persistent earnings growth that trade at a discount relative to their earnings growth and dividend yield.
FARMERS NATIONAL BANC CORP (FMNB) is a small-cap value stock in the Regional Banks industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 60% to 79% 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: Farmers National Banc Corp. is a one-bank holding company. The Company’s principal business consists of owning and supervising its subsidiaries. The Company operates through tree segments: the Bank, Trust and Retirement Consulting. The Company operates principally through its subsidiaries, The Farmers National Bank of Canfield (the Bank or Farmers Bank), Farmers Trust Company (Trust or Farmers Trust), National Associates, Inc. (NAI) and Farmers National Captive, Inc. (Captive). The Bank’s subsidiaries include Farmers National Insurance, LLC (Farmers Insurance) and Farmers of Canfield Investment Co. (Farmers Investments). The banking operation offers loans, investments and deposits; the trust operations provide trust services, and the retirement consulting operations offer consulting services. The Company and its subsidiaries operate in the domestic banking, trust, retirement consulting, insurance and financial management industries.
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.
| P/E RATIO: | PASS |
| EPS GROWTH: | FAIL |
| FUTURE EPS GROWTH: | PASS |
| SALES GROWTH: | PASS |
| TOTAL RETURN/PE: | PASS |
| FREE CASH FLOW: | FAIL |
| EPS PERSISTENCE: | PASS |
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 331.19% vs. 202.91% 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.
Intel Corporation offers computing, networking, data storage, and communication solutions worldwide. It operates through Client Computing Group, Data Center Group, Internet of Things Group, Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group, Programmable Solutions Group, and All Other segments. The company offers microprocessors, and system-on-chip and multichip packaging products. It also provides NAND flash memory products primarily used in solid-state drives; and programmable semiconductors and related products for communications, data center, industrial, and military markets. In addition, the company develops computer vision and machine learning, data analysis, localization, and mapping for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving. Its platforms are used in notebooks, systems, and desktops; cloud, enterprise, and communication infrastructure market segments; and retail, automotive, industrial, and various other embedded applications. It serves original equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, industrial and communication equipment manufacturers, and cloud service providers. Intel Corporation has a collaboration with Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ) to develop software defined infrastructure for network functions virtualization, distributed cloud, and 5G applications. The company was founded in 1968 and is based in Santa Clara, California.
Finisar Corporation provides components and subsystems to networking equipment manufacturers, data center operators, telecom service providers, consumer electronics, and automotive companies in the United States, China, Malaysia, and internationally. The company’s optical subsystems primarily include transmitters, receivers, transceivers, transponders, and active optical cables, which provide the fundamental optical-electrical or optoelectronic interface for interconnecting the electronic equipment used in wireline networks comprising switches, routers, and servers, as well as wireless networks, such as antennas and base stations. It also offers wavelength selective switches that are used to switch network traffic from one optical fiber to various other fibers without converting to an electronic signal. In addition, the company provides packaged laser, receivers, and photodetectors for data communication and telecommunication applications; and passive optical components for telecommunication applications. It markets its products through direct sales force, as well as distributors, manufacturers’ representatives and resellers, and system integrators; and to the manufacturers of storage systems and telecommunication equipment, as well as to their contract manufacturers. Finisar Corporation was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
