John Dorfman Columns category, Page 3
John Dorfman: Old Faithful erupts … with 5 stock picks
You can count on it. Every 35 to 120 minutes, Old Faithful Geyser will erupt in Yellowstone National Park. I’ve named one of my favorite stock screens after this famous geyser. It’s a simple multifactor screen, pointing to stocks that:Boast a 15% return on stockholders’ equity (profits as a percentage...
John Dorfman: 5 candidates for a small-stock comeback
Waiting for small stocks to stage a comeback is like: (a) Watching grass grow (b) Watching paint dry (c) Watching snails race (d) All of the above The answer of course is (d). This year through April 12, large-capitalization stocks (as represented by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Total Return...
John Dorfman: U.S. Steel, Humana on Casualty List
Not every stock that gets roughed up deserves it. Finding stocks that have been banged around, and that have good recovery potential, is the point of my quarterly Casualty List. This year’s first quarter saw healthy gains for most stocks, but some stocks took it on the chin. Four that...
John Dorfman: A love-hate relationship with gold
Ever have a friend you love and hate at the same time? That’s how I feel about gold. For most of my 24 years as an investment manager, I’ve avoided gold. Unlike Microsoft or Coca-Cola, gold doesn’t generate any profits. So you can’t use standard measures like price-earnings ratios to...
John Dorfman: 7 stocks I like on Nasdaq
The Nasdaq Stock Market has been hitting new highs this year. Nasdaq is a market with a dual personality. It’s home to most large technology companies and also the place where a slew of smaller stocks in other industries are traded. Tech stocks have been the stock market’s leaders last...
John Dorfman: Enter my economic forecasting derby
Predicting the economy is close to impossible. But we have fun trying. Welcome to the 22nd Derby of Economic Forecasting Talent, or DEFT for short. Contestants must predict six economic variables for the calendar year in progress. You can play. The winner will get a trophy, plaque or certificate. Plus,...
John Dorfman: Alphabet, Mueller Industries balance-sheet powerhouses
Many investors see only half the picture. They are like a baseball scout who looks only for hitting ability, not fielding. They focus obsessively on a company’s income statement (profit and loss), mostly ignoring the balance sheet (assets and liabilities). I believe the balance sheet is important, particularly now that...
John Dorfman: Phillips 66, 4 other stocks show value, momentum
A body in motion tends to remain in motion at a constant speed and velocity unless acted upon by an outside force, says Newton’s first law of motion. The stock market is full of outside forces. Nonetheless, the momentum effect is real in the market. That’s why, twice a year,...
John Dorfman: Unum, Agco, 3 more mid-cap stocks to consider
If your nose bleeds when you look at the high prices of the market’s most popular stocks, you may find some bargains in mid-sized stocks. I believe mid-capitalization stocks are poised to do well in 2024. I define mid-caps as stocks with a market value of $1 billion to $10...
John Dorfman: Four stocks with big rebound potential
A Wall Street adage warns, “Don’t try to catch a falling knife.” I do it frequently. Buying good stocks on bad news is a sound methodology, I believe. You may not catch the exact bottom, but you’re likely to find a good entry point. Each quarter, I compile a Casualty...
John Dorfman: Magnificent Seven? Consider my Regular Seven instead
Well, finally! The stock market’s advance is broadening out at last, after close to two years when most stocks didn’t do much while the so-called Magnificent Seven soared. The Magnificent Seven consists of Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Meta Platforms Inc. (META), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Nvidia...
John Dorfman: Picking through the rubble of this year’s hardest-hit stocks
As each year draws to a close, I like to sift through the debris of the year’s worst-performing stocks. Usually I can find one or two that strike me as bargains. This year, among all U.S. stocks with a market value of $5 billion or more, the worst performers are:...
John Dorfman: Bunny Portfolio returned 44% in past year
“Still going.” That was the punchline in the Energizer battery commercials, featuring the Energizer Bunny, which kept going long after you would have expected it to stop. It’s also the idea behind my Bunny Portfolio. This hypothetical portfolio contains companies that have averaged 25% profit growth in the past five...
John Dorfman: When CEOs buy their own stock, pay attention
When chief executives buy their companies’ shares, it’s often worth considering the stock. Company insiders achieve better capital gains, on average, than the typical investor does. The effect is especially strong for chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs). Using Guru Focus software, I screened on Dec. 3...
John Dorfman: Foot Locker, Albemarle may bounce back strong
Today’s smash-ups are tomorrow’s comeback candidates. In November and December, investors often sell their losers to reduce their capital-gains taxes. In this late-year selloff, some stocks get pushed below their fair values, which creates a buying opportunity. Here are a few stocks that have been pummeled in 2023 and that...
John Dorfman: 5 stocks to loosen your belt for
Thanksgiving is a time to loosen your belt. That’s why, each year around Thanksgiving, I loosen my stock-valuation belt a little in this column, and suggest five stocks that look good to me even though they are a little more expensive than I normally prefer. These are GARP stocks. The...
John Dorfman: Kraft Heinz, Capital One look good based on book value
I believe the value approach to investing is in the early stages of a comeback, after a decade in retreat. Roughly speaking and oversimplifying, value was usually a good stock-picking method from 1930 to 2013. Since then, growth and momentum investors have smiled, while value investors have wept. A stock...
John Dorfman: What’s up most in 2023? Cipher Mining, Carvana
Some of the biggest gainers this year are so obscure that many investors won’t have heard of them. On Nov. 4, I checked the biggest gainers year-to-date among all stocks with a market value of $1 billion or more. And the winners are…. 1. Cipher Mining Inc., up 632% 2....
John Dorfman: Markel, Pulte flaunt rapid revenue growth
For a while, revenue growth at all costs was a popular approach, and investors fell for it. Now that stocks such as AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (AMC) and WeWork Inc. (WE) have crashed to earth, investors are a little less in love with revenue growth. So now that the fad...
John Dorfman: The sweet spot between small and midsize stocks
I’m partial to small and midsize stocks, and I especially like the size that’s right on the border between them. “Large” in the stock market these days means $10 billion or more in market value, by my classification. Midsize stocks are $1 billion to $10 billion, and small stocks are...
John Dorfman: RTX, Timken, SeaWorld hit Casualty List
The harsh market climate of August and September has left quite a few stocks selling for what I consider bargain prices. Welcome to the 82nd quarterly Casualty List, featuring stocks that have been knocked around and that I think have the potential to recover and thrive. RTX Corp. I’ll start...
John Dorfman: October a special month for stock market
We are coming up on a seasonal turning point in the stock market. October is special for three reasons: • It is the month when history’s most spectacular market crashes have occurred, most famously in 1929 and 1987. • Yet it is actually, on average, a pretty good month. •...
John Dorfman: Short-selling contestants clean up betting on losses
In 20 years of running the annual Short Sellers Don’t Have Horns short-selling contest, I’ve never had a winner request anonymity. Until now. The winner, whom I will call Sam, is a 22-year-old stock analyst who recently earned a master’s degree in finance from a college in the Boston area....
John Dorfman: EOG, Livent have pleasingly plump profit margins
No one wants to hear the word “fat.” But put it together with “profit margins,” and it doesn’t sound bad. Once a year, I feature in this column some stocks that boast unusually large profit margins. These can be a sign that a company has a unique product or is...
John Dorfman: Paccar and American Woodmark show value, momentum
Most value stocks (those that are reasonably priced or cheap) are struggling to gain traction this year. Growth stocks are ruling the roost. But a few value stocks are outperforming the market. For people who relish both value and some price action, here are five stocks to consider. Each sells...
