Stocks to Watch: Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR), Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST)

In taking a look at some key indicators for Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR), we note that the current Book to Market value for the firm is at 0.443153. The Book to Market or BTM is calculated as Market Value (or Stock Price)/Book Value. Investors often look for shares with high Book to Market value as this could indicate that the equity is priced below market value and underpriced.

A ratio of a publicly-traded company’s book value to its market value. That is, the BTM is a comparison of a company’s net asset value per share to its share price. This is a useful tool to help determine how the market prices a company relative to its actual worth. A ratio greater than one indicates an undervalued company, while a ratio less than one means a company is overvalued. Value managers seek out companies with high BTMs for their portfolios.

When it comes to the stock market, many traders rely on technical analysis to identify trades. With technical analysis, it is generally believed that stock price movements follow trends. When the trend is determined, the thought is that price movements in the future are more likely to go in the same direction as the trend, and not against it. Another aspect of technical analysis is the idea that history tends to repeat itself especially regarding the movement of the stock’s price. Technical analysts will use chart patterns to help study market moves and identify these trends. Some traders will use highly complex charts while others may only follow a few major indicators. 

Additional Tools

There are many different tools to determine whether a company is profitable or not.  One of the most popular ratios is the “Return on Assets” (aka ROA).  This score indicates how profitable a company is relative to its total assets.  The Return on Assets for Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is 0.020525.  This number is calculated by dividing net income after tax by the company’s total assets.  A company that manages their assets well will have a higher return, while a company that manages their assets poorly will have a lower return.

Looking at some ROIC (Return on Invested Capital) numbers, Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)’s ROIC is 0.023774. The ROIC 5 year average is 0.045685 and the ROIC Quality ratio is 11.211550. ROIC is a profitability ratio that measures the return that an investment generates for those providing capital. ROIC helps show how efficient a firm is at turning capital into profits. 

In terms of EBITDA Yield, Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) currently has a value of 0.068947. This value is derived by dividing EBITDA by Enterprise Value.

The Current Ratio of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is 0.70. The Current Ratio is used by investors to determine whether a company can pay short term and long term debts. The current ratio looks at all the liquid and non-liquid assets compared to the company’s total current liabilities. A high current ratio indicates that the company might have trouble managing their working capital. A low current ratio (when the current liabilities are higher than the current assets) indicates that the company may have trouble paying their short term obligations.

The Leverage Ratio of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is 0.397581. Leverage ratio is the total debt of a company divided by total assets of the current and past year divided by two. Companies take on debt to finance their day to day operations. The leverage ratio can measure how much of a company’s capital comes from debt. With this ratio, investors can better estimate how well a company will be able to pay their long and short term financial obligations.

Piotroski F Score

The Piotroski F-Score is a scoring system between 1-9 that determines a firm’s financial strength. The score helps determine if a company’s stock is valuable or not. The Piotroski F-Score of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is 4. A score of nine indicates a high value stock, while a score of one indicates a low value stock. The score is calculated by the return on assets (ROA), Cash flow return on assets (CFROA), change in return of assets, and quality of earnings. It is also calculated by a change in gearing or leverage, liquidity, and change in shares in issue. The score is also determined by change in gross margin and change in asset turnover.

Checking in on some valuation rankings, Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) has a Value Composite score of 40. Developed by James O’Shaughnessy, the VC score uses five valuation ratios. These ratios are price to earnings, price to cash flow, EBITDA to EV, price to book value, and price to sales. The VC is displayed as a number between 1 and 100. In general, a company with a score closer to 0 would be seen as undervalued, and a score closer to 100 would indicate an overvalued company. Adding a sixth ratio, shareholder yield, we can view the Value Composite 2 score which is currently sitting at 48.

Volatility/C Score

Stock volatility is a percentage that indicates whether a stock is a desirable purchase.  Investors look at the Volatility 12m to determine if a company has a low volatility percentage or not over the course of a year.  The Volatility 12m of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is 13.285700.  This is calculated by taking weekly log normal returns and standard deviation of the share price over one year annualized.  The lower the number, a company is thought to have low volatility.  The Volatility 3m is a similar percentage determined by the daily log normal returns and standard deviation of the share price over 3 months.  The Volatility 3m of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is 15.218500.  The Volatility 6m is the same, except measured over the course of six months.  The Volatility 6m is 16.804300.

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) currently has a Montier C-score of 3.00000. This indicator was developed by James Montier in an attempt to identify firms that were cooking the books in order to appear better on paper. The score ranges from zero to six where a 0 would indicate no evidence of book cooking, and a 6 would indicate a high likelihood. A C-score of -1 would indicate that there is not enough information available to calculate the score. Montier used six inputs in the calculation. These inputs included a growing difference between net income and cash flow from operations, increasing receivable days, growing day’s sales of inventory, increasing other current assets, decrease in depreciation relative to gross property plant and equipment, and high total asset growth.

Investors can employ various techniques in order to study stocks. Two of the most widely used techniques are fundamental and technical analysis. Fundamental analysis includes crunching the numbers for specific companies. This may involve reviewing the cash flow statement, income statement, and balance sheet. In essence, fundamental analysts are trying to figure out the company’s value. Once the value of a company is determined, the investor can then make investment decisions based on the research. Using this method, a stock that is trading underneath the intrinsic value may be considered a good pick. Technical traders typically hold the view that all the data they need to know about a stock can be discovered to using charts.

Here we will take a look at several key ratios for Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST), starting with the Book to Market (BTM) ratio. Value investors seek stocks with high BTMs for their portfolios.  The ratio is a comparison of the firm’s net asset value per share to it’s current price.  This is helpful in determining how the market values the company compared to it’s actual worth.  The Book to Market value of Fastenal Company currently stands at 0.132269.

Investors might be searching high and low for the next great stock to trade. Professional investors may have their game plans honed and ready to roll, but amateurs may be fighting to stay above water in the markets. Leaping into the equity markets without any preparation may lead to quick losses. Keeping track of all the ins and outs of daily market activity can be exhausting, and investors may be best served if they are able to focus on the essentials and rise above the noise. Although successful trading might be measured differently from one person to another, the general principles of winners are generally the same. Snatching profits from the market may seem like an easy task when stocks are soaring, but things can always snap back in the blink of an eye. Investors who are able to prepare for any situation may find themselves ahead of the game when the inevitable bear market scenario rears its head.

In terms of EBITDA Yield, Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST) currently has a value of 0.062527. This value is derived by dividing EBITDA by Enterprise Value.

Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST) presently has a current ratio of 4.31. The current ratio, also known as the working capital ratio, is a liquidity ratio that displays the proportion of current assets of a business relative to the current liabilities. The ratio is simply calculated by dividing current liabilities by current assets. The ratio may be used to provide an idea of the ability of a certain company to pay back its liabilities with assets. Typically, the higher the current ratio the better, as the company may be more capable of paying back its obligations.

The Price to book ratio is the current share price of a company divided by the book value per share.  The Price to Book ratio for Fastenal Company NasdaqGS:FAST is 7.560373.  A lower price to book ratio indicates that the stock might be undervalued.  Similarly, Price to cash flow ratio is another helpful ratio in determining a company’s value.  The Price to Cash Flow for Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST) is 25.192838.  This ratio is calculated by dividing the market value of a company by cash from operating activities.  Additionally, the price to earnings ratio is another popular way for analysts and investors to determine a company’s profitability.  The price to earnings ratio for Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST) is 23.485458. This ratio is found by taking the current share price and dividing by earnings per share.

Looking at some ROIC (Return on Invested Capital) numbers, Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST)’s ROIC is 0.351982. The ROIC 5 year average is 0.384835 and the ROIC Quality ratio is 10.985425. ROIC is a profitability ratio that measures the return that an investment generates for those providing capital. ROIC helps show how efficient a firm is at turning capital into profits. 

Free Cash Flow Growth (FCF Growth) is the free cash flow of the current year minus the free cash flow from the previous year, divided by last year’s free cash flow.  The FCF Growth of Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST) is 0.373665.  Free cash flow (FCF) is the cash produced by the company minus capital expenditure.  This cash is what a company uses to meet its financial obligations, such as making payments on debt or to pay out dividends.  The Free Cash Flow Score (FCF Score) is a helpful tool in calculating the free cash flow growth with free cash flow stability – this gives investors the overall quality of the free cash flow.  The FCF Score of Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST) is 0.928535.  Experts say the higher the value, the better, as it means that the free cash flow is high, or the variability of free cash flow is low or both.

The Gross Margin Score is calculated by looking at the Gross Margin and the overall stability of the company over the course of 8 years.  The score is a number between one and one hundred (1 being best and 100 being the worst).  The Gross Margin Score of Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST) is 11.00000.  The more stable the company, the lower the score.  If a company is less stable over the course of time, they will have a higher score.

At the time of writing, Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST) has a Piotroski F-Score of 5. The F-Score may help discover companies with strengthening balance sheets. The score may also be used to spot the weak performers. Joseph Piotroski developed the F-Score which employs nine different variables based on the company financial statement. A single point is assigned to each test that a stock passes. Typically, a stock scoring an 8 or 9 would be seen as strong. On the other end, a stock with a score from 0-2 would be viewed as weak.

Shifting gears, we can see that Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST) has a Q.i. Value of 40.00000. The Q.i. Value ranks companies using four ratios. These ratios consist of EBITDA Yield, FCF Yield, Liquidity, and Earnings Yield. The purpose of the Q.i. Value is to help identify companies that are the most undervalued. Typically, the lower the value, the more undervalued the company tends to be.

Watching some historical volatility numbers on shares of Fastenal Company (NasdaqGS:FAST), we can see that the 12 month volatility is presently 29.727800. The 6 month volatility is 24.270500, and the 3 month is spotted at 23.971600. Following volatility data can help measure how much the stock price has fluctuated over the specified time period. Although past volatility action may help project future stock volatility, it may also be vastly different when taking into account other factors that may be driving price action during the measured time period.

Investors might be searching high and low for the next great stock to trade. Professional investors may have their game plans honed and ready to roll, but amateurs may be fighting to stay above water in the markets. Leaping into the equity markets without any preparation may lead to quick losses. Keeping track of all the ins and outs of daily market activity can be exhausting, and investors may be best served if they are able to focus on the essentials and rise above the noise. Although successful trading might be measured differently from one person to another, the general principles of winners are generally the same. Snatching profits from the market may seem like an easy task when stocks are soaring, but things can always snap back in the blink of an eye. Investors who are able to prepare for any situation may find themselves ahead of the game when the inevitable bear market scenario rears its head.

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