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5 ROE Stocks to Buy as Markets Mix Caution With Optimism

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The U.S. equity markets continued to trade in the vicinity of record highs, barring minor hiccups, as the economy recorded solid growth in the first quarter with significant federal aid and robust labor market conditions acting as catalysts. The Fed pledged to keep the interest rates near zero as it maintained an accommodative monetary policy to fuel growth. However, at the same time, the Fed cautioned of a likely rise in inflation during the transitionary phase of post-pandemic recovery, which it aimed to regulate at around 2% over the longer run. With a better-than-expected performance from hitherto reported companies, the markets appear to be on the way up as more companies gear up for earnings release in another busy week ahead.

As investors employ a wait-and-see approach in a classic example of “backing and filling” in the market, they can benefit from ‘cash cow’ stocks that garner higher returns. However, identifying cash-rich stocks alone does not make for a solid investment proposition unless it is backed by attractive efficiency ratios like return on equity (ROE). A high ROE ensures that the company is reinvesting cash at a high rate of return.

ROE: A Key Metric

ROE = Net Income/Shareholders’ Equity

ROE helps investors distinguish profit-generating companies from profit burners and is useful in determining the financial health of a company. In other words, this financial metric enables investors to identify companies that diligently deploy cash for higher returns.

Moreover, ROE is often used to compare the profitability of a company with other firms in the industry — the higher, the better. It measures how well a company is multiplying its profits without investing new equity capital and portrays management’s efficiency in rewarding shareholders with attractive risk-adjusted returns.

Parameters Used for Screening

In order to shortlist stocks that are cash-rich with high ROE, we have added Cash Flow greater than $1 billion and ROE greater than X-Industry as our primary screening parameters. In addition, we have taken a few other criteria into consideration to arrive at a winning strategy.

Price/Cash Flow lesser than X-Industry: This metric measures how much investors pay for $1 of free cash flow. A lower ratio indicates that investors need to pay less for a better cash flow-generating stock.

Return on Assets (ROA) greater than X-Industry: This metric determines how much profit a company earns for every dollar of asset, which includes cash, accounts receivable, property, equipment, inventory and furniture. The higher the ROA, the better it is for the company.

5-Year EPS Historical Growth greater than X-Industry: This criterion indicates that continued earnings momentum has translated into solid cash strength.   

Zacks Rank less than or equal to 2: Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) stocks are known to outperform irrespective of the market environment.

Here are five of the 23 stocks that qualified the screen:

CDW Corporation (CDW - Free Report) : Headquartered in Vernon Hills, IL, CDW Corporation is a leading provider of integrated information technology solutions to small, medium and large business, government, education and healthcare customers in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. This Zacks #2 Ranked company has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 13.1%. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 14.1%, on average.

Celanese Corporation (CE - Free Report) : Texas-based Celanese is a global hybrid chemical firm that produces chemical substances and materials. The company manufactures high performance engineered polymers that are used in a range of high-value applications. It also produces acetyl products for most major industries. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 17.8%, on average. The Zacks Rank #1 company has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 20.3%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Virtu Financial, Inc. (VIRT - Free Report) : Headquartered in New York, NY, Virtu Financial is a market-leading financial services firm that leverages cutting-edge technology to provide execution services and data, analytics and connectivity products to its clients and deliver liquidity to the global markets. The company pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 24.8%, on average. Virtu Financial currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 and has a VGM Score of A.

Polaris Inc. (PII - Free Report) : Headquartered in Medina, MN, Polaris designs, manufactures and markets power sports vehicles worldwide. It also produces replacement parts and accessories of such vehicles. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 53%, on average. This Zacks Rank #2 stock has a VGM Score of A.

Lam Research Corporation (LRCX - Free Report) : Headquartered in Fremont, CA, Lam Research supplies wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry. This Zacks #1 Ranked company has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 32.8%. The company pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 11.1%, on average.

You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.  

The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.

Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.

Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.

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