AVX Corp (NYSE:AVX)

Great value proposition.

Screened

Strong financials. Dividend payor. Serving growing markets. Well managed. Double-digit ROE. Tough year for the stock renders it cheap for long-term investors.

Technology stocks are being bled-out at the moment, but I honed in on AVX Corp. because it has some compelling numbers, and it is one of the with a dividend, which pays 1.85%. There doesn't seem to be a lot of analysts tracking it, but the company has a market cap slightly more than $2B, with TTM income around $260M.

At current price, P/B is 0.96, P/S is 1.2, and P/C is 2.57. When a company with a history of growth, and good potential to keep growing is trading at just 2.5 times their cash, it is worth noting. Additionally, the company has no debt at all, and the balance sheet shows $380M in cash and another $400M in short-term investments as of March. Their March MRQ liabilities are virtually non-existent, just $279M, only marginally more than their March MRQ net income of $244M, on more than $420M in revenue.

From the most recent 10Q, covering the period to June 30th, net sales increased to $436M, gross profit came in at $125M, with net income at $67.6M, giving them diluted EPS of $0.40, compared to $0.31 Q/Q.

I'm not an avid follower of their technologies, I only honed in on AVX because of their quality financials and balance sheet. Back in June Zacks added AVX to their #1 rank strong buy list, which may be meaningless but shows at least one vote of confidence.

Judging by other news about the company, they appear to be one of the leaders in various technologies, including surface mount capacitors, ultra low-profile LED lighting connectors, and other passive and interconnect components. But they appear to be getting dumped along with the bath water.

Cheap. No debt. They have a variety of products. What's not to like?

my small caps screen

They seem to be having a great year, which makes the valuations look good right now. However, based on the past several years, there just isn't the margin of safety for me to drop real money into it just yet. There's also a hanging threat of some environmental cleanup costs that could wipe out the last 3 years worth of earnings.

That said, this company has a solid balance sheet (enough cash to pay for those cleanup costs and no debt). They generate cash year after year. I think the stock will perform better than average, and if it drops back below 14 anytime soon on no news, I'd be willing to put real money behind it.

Consistant revenue and earnings growth quarter over quarter since bottoming in March 2009. Rapidly growing market for their passive electronic components worldwide. Undervalued.

Earnings for quarter up 111% over last year. Sales up 39% over last year. Beat estimates by 18%. Worth $25.50. Trading at a 80% discount.

Recent price decease represents buying opportunity for this Schwab A rated stock.

Brought to my attention by Charles B. Carlson's "DRIP Investor" newsletter, this company manufactures and supplies electronic components used in devices to store, filter and regulate electrical energy. Looking at their financial numbers, the Forward & Trailing P/Es are 11.54 and 15.8, respectively (good numbers by me). The PEG ratio is a very nice 1.02 currently, while their EV/EBITDA value is well under 10 at 6.98. The profit & operating margins are 11% & 13%, resp., the RoA=5.4%, and RoE=8.23%. The last Quarterly Revenue growth hit 35.2%, and they are sitting on a wad of cash (almost $700M, one-third of their market cap). For volatility freaks, this one rides below the radar with a Beta value of 0.81, and over 70% of the company is owned by insiders (according to Yahoo! Finance). Even better, the company has ZERO debt. I like these numbers very much. And to put some icing on this cake, the SlowStochastics show this stock to be very much oversold and ready for a bounce-back (there! I've just damned myself to a falling pick now!). This is not going to be a barn-burner of a stock, but I'm hoping to beat the S&P500 with this one.
[Source: Yahoo! Finance]

It may not be a double-bagger, but this is a stock that is a great value. Excellent fundamentals and a 1.6% yield make this is a safe investment with good potential for returns.

small cap value play

No debt. Has taken a big hit over the last 3 mos. The company's financials look ok/good. At it's current price ($8.77), it may have been dragged down too far in the current turmoil. This would be a longish term value play. With the dividend adding to the return, it will make a nice addition to my retirement account.

MACD Bullish Crossing at Centerline with increased volume.

Stock found using custom screen. Highlights include no debt, heavy insider ownership, and a newly declared dividend. Stock is down on an earnings miss due to rising energy costs and a weak dollar. The stock was also downgraded since these disadvantages are unlikely to disappear in the next year. However, I see strength in the electronic components sector, and think this stock will recover nicely from these temporary disadvantages.

Fortune 40 Small Wonders

VALUE LINES - TIMELY STOCKS IN TIMELY INDUSTRIES

I figured I would try an experiment by tracking a stock solely based on the Fool Ratio Valuation Tool, using the following parameters for a screen: 1.excluded the following industries(airlines,banks/brokerages,leasing,mortgages,oil-drilling,real-estate) 2. PEG <.65 3. 20% est annual EPS growth 4. Small and Mid caps 200M-5B; This was one of the finalists, we'll see how powerful this is for the bulls!!...ceteris paribus