The following are the top rated Health Care stocks according to Validea's Low PE Investor model based on the published strategy of John Neff. This strategy looks for firms with persistent earnings growth that trade at a discount relative to their earnings growth and dividend yield.
ZOETIS INC (ZTS) is a large-cap growth stock in the Biotechnology & Drugs industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff is 62% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.
Company Description: Zoetis Inc. is an animal health company. The Company is focused on the discovery, development, manufacture and commercialization of medicines, vaccines, diagnostic products and services, biodevices, genetic tests and precision animal health. It has a diversified business, commercializing products across eight core species: dogs, cats and horses (companion animals) and cattle, swine, poultry, fish and sheep (livestock); and within seven major product categories: parasiticides, vaccines, dermatology, other pharmaceutical, anti-infectives, animal health diagnostics and medicated feed additives. The Company operates through two segments: the United States and International. Within each of these segments, it offers a diversified product portfolio for both companion animal and livestock customers. It directly markets its products in approximately 45 countries across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and South America, and its products are sold in more than 100 countries.
The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.
| P/E RATIO: | FAIL |
| EPS GROWTH: | PASS |
| FUTURE EPS GROWTH: | PASS |
| SALES GROWTH: | PASS |
| TOTAL RETURN/PE: | FAIL |
| FREE CASH FLOW: | PASS |
| EPS PERSISTENCE: | PASS |
Detailed Analysis of ZOETIS INC
CENTENE CORP (CNC) is a large-cap growth stock in the Healthcare Facilities industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff is 62% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.
Company Description: Centene Corporation is a healthcare company. The Company provides services to government-sponsored and commercial healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and uninsured individuals. It provides a range of managed healthcare products and services, primarily through Medicaid, Medicare, and commercial products. Its segments include Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial and Other. It offers Medicaid and Medicare members (including Medicare Prescription Drug Plans) as well as individuals and families served by the Health Insurance Marketplace and the TRICARE program. It also contracts with other healthcare and commercial organizations to provide a variety of specialty services focused on treating the whole person. Medicaid program provides health insurance to low-income families and individuals with disabilities. Medicare is a federal health insurance program for people ages 65 and over, which also covers people under 65 with certain disabilities and people with end-stage renal diseases.
The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.
| P/E RATIO: | PASS |
| EPS GROWTH: | FAIL |
| FUTURE EPS GROWTH: | PASS |
| SALES GROWTH: | PASS |
| TOTAL RETURN/PE: | FAIL |
| FREE CASH FLOW: | PASS |
| EPS PERSISTENCE: | PASS |
Detailed Analysis of CENTENE CORP
AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC (A) is a large-cap growth stock in the Scientific & Technical Instr. industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff is 62% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.
Company Description: Agilent Technologies, Inc. is engaged in providing application focused solutions that include instruments, software, services and consumables for the entire laboratory workflow. It operates in the life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets. Its life sciences and applied markets segment provides application-focused solutions that include instruments, consumables and software that enable customers to identify, quantify and analyze the physical and biological properties of substances and products. Its diagnostics and genomics segment includes the genomics, nucleic acid contract manufacturing and research and development, pathology, companion diagnostics, reagent partnership and biomolecular analysis businesses. The Agilent CrossLab segment offers services portfolio, which includes repairs, parts, maintenance, installations, training, compliance support, software as a service, asset management, consulting and various other custom services to support the laboratory operations.
The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.
| P/E RATIO: | FAIL |
| EPS GROWTH: | PASS |
| FUTURE EPS GROWTH: | PASS |
| SALES GROWTH: | PASS |
| TOTAL RETURN/PE: | FAIL |
| FREE CASH FLOW: | PASS |
| EPS PERSISTENCE: | PASS |
Detailed Analysis of AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC
About John Neff: While known as the manager with whom many top managers entrusted their own money, Neff was far from the smooth-talking, high-profile Wall Streeter you might expect. He was mild-mannered and low-key, and the same might be said of the Windsor Fund that he managed for more than three decades. In fact, Neff himself described the fund as "relatively prosaic, dull, [and] conservative." There was nothing dull about his results, however. From 1964 to 1995, Neff guided Windsor to a 13.7 percent average annual return, easily outpacing the S&P 500's 10.6 percent return during that time. That 3.1 percentage point difference is huge over time -- a $10,000 investment in Windsor (with dividends reinvested) at the start of Neff's tenure would have ended up as more than $564,000 by the time he retired, more than twice what the same investment in the S&P would have yielded (about $233,000). Considering the length of his tenure, that track record may be the best ever for a manager of such a large fund.
About Validea: Validea is aninvestment researchservice that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
