Jim O’Shaughnessy’s 3 stocks to buy, 3 to avoid now

With stocks right around all-time highs, you might think it would be difficult to find anything cheap. Surprisingly, there are some well-known names that offer some incredible value.

So says Jim O’Shaughessy, veteran stockpicker and author of books like “The New Rules of Investing Now.” OSAM determines its own ‘Value Composite,’ which uses multiple value factors, including price-to-sales; PE; EBITDA/Enterprise value; Free cash flow/Enterprise value and shareholder yield to determine the most expensive, and cheapest stocks in its stock screener.

Using this formula and back testing screener names revealed some astounding results. The Value Composite’s best decile compounded at 18.01% since 1963, better than any single value factor. Take a look at these figures:

  • $10,000 invested in the large ‘Stocks Universe’ in 1963 now worth inflation-adjusted $200,000.

  • $10,000 invested in the 25 cheapest names from Value Composite worth $2.8 million.

  • $10,000 invested in the 25 most expensive names worth $3,324, nearly 70% loss on investment over the 45 years.

Looking at today’s market, the Value Composite finds these are the most expensive names on the market:

  • Tesla Motors (TSLA) – LS Value Composite of 99.0

  • LinkedIn (LNKD) – LS Value Composite of 98.7

  • Twitter (TWTR) – 98.5

Perhaps some of these names aren’t shocking for investors. On the flipside, the cheapest names according to the screener are:

  • Travelers (TRV) – LS Value Composite of 0.6

  • Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) – LS Value Composite of 1.8

  • Staples (SPLS) – LS Value Composite of 2.8

Check out the video to hear O’Shaughnessy make the case for Travelers, H-P and Staples.

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