John Dorfman Columns category, Page 8
John Dorfman: Insiders buy at Terminex, Westlake
Ever have a problem with mice or termites in your house? If so, there’s a decent chance you called Terminex. Terminex Global Holdings Inc. (TMX), based in Memphis, Tenn., is the largest pest control company in the U.S. It has 2.8 million customers in 47 states and 22 countries. Brett...
John Dorfman: My fat profit margin stocks returned 78% in 2020; here’s another 5 to try
It’s been a great year for stocks with fat profit margins. Five fat-margin stocks that I recommended on September 7, 2020 have returned 78.6% through September 3 of this year. Gamco Investors Inc. (GBL), Mario Gabelli’s investment company, led the way with a 136% return. A year ago, I wrote...
John Dorfman: Lab Corp., 4 other stocks boast value, momentum
Twice a year in this column, I hunt for stocks that seem to possess both value and momentum. Even though the market has hit records lately, it’s still possible to find stocks that have both qualities. Here are five I recommend. Each of them has beaten the Standard & Poor’s...
John Dorfman: 5 stocks that look good based on cash flow
If you were invisible, the perfect industrial spy, you could lurk in a company’s headquarters and watch every dollar coming in and going out. That would give you an excellent fix on the company’s cash flow. And cash flow, many investors believe, is a great measure of a company’s health....
John Dorfman: Ben Graham might favor these 4 stocks if he were alive
Eighty-seven years after he published his seminal work, Benjamin Graham remains the patron saint of value investors. Graham – a hedge fund manager, Columbia University professor and author – believed that a stock’s price orbits its “intrinsic value” the way a planet orbits the sun. It may get further away...
John Dorfman: Sane Portfolio advanced 47% last year
Most of my clients want medium-risk portfolios. A few tilt more to the conservative side. To find stocks for the more conservative ones, a tool I use is the Sane Portfolio. This is a hypothetical collection of a dozen stocks that seem solid to me from several vantage points. To...
John Dorfman: Allstate, PulteGroup show value plus growth
In a romantic partner, would you prefer good looks or intelligence? Silly question. Of course, you’d like both. Yet in the stock market, investors often feel they can go for value or growth but not both. Sometimes you can find both in a single stock. And once a year, I...
John Dorfman: The market is expensive, but some stocks aren’t
Clients and prospects often say to me, “With the market at all-time highs, isn’t this a bad time to invest?” They are worrying about the wrong thing. If you don’t invest when the market is at an all-time high, you will miss some excellent returns. A study by J.P. Morgan...
John Dorfman: Netgear, AutoNation appear seemingly cheap based on this ratio
Suppose you had the opportunity to buy a big, lumbering company with huge sales but slender profits. Would you do it? You would if you thought you could turn the company around. Perhaps you could improve the product, raise prices, cut expenses or find other ways to improve those puny...
John Dorfman: The Perfect 10 Portfolio returned 69% last year
To call a beautiful woman a “Perfect 10” these days would be considered chauvinistic and outdated. But my Perfect 10 Portfolio is still looking good. This is a hypothetical portfolio of stocks, each of which sells for 10 times the company’s earnings per share. Historically, most stocks sell for about...
John Dorfman: Thor and KB Home are on the casualty list
You might think only a bumbling company could see its stock decline in the second quarter. After all, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index returned 8.55% for the three months through June. But it isn’t so. About a third of all stocks were down in the quarter. Some are good...
John Dorfman: What Edson Gould would say about stocks, if he were alive
People who are fretting about the Federal Reserve’s latest comments probably never heard of Edson Gould. Gould, a famed stock analyst from the 1940s into the 1970s, tried to devise an answer to investors’ perennial question: When should you take defensive measures if the Fed is tightening credit conditions? He...
John Dorfman: Gentex, Logitech show high profit, low debt
Your neighbor is playing stock-market roulette by buying the stocks he hears about on Reddit’s “Wall Street Bets” forum. You know he may double his money – or lose half of it – in a matter of days. But perhaps frenzied speculation isn’t your style. Is there a sounder way?...
John Dorfman: These are the stocks I own for my clients
Once a year, I devote this column to a rundown on the stocks I own. Here are the stocks in the model portfolio of Dorfman Value Investments. I own each of them personally and for the majority of my clients. Infrastructure Bipartisan cooperation sometimes seems no more real than the...
John Dorfman: Where the insiders are buying stock lately, you might want to, too
“Eating your own cooking” is a good sign in the stock market. When a company’s executives are buying its shares, it often pays for investors to follow suit. Lately, there’s not a lot of buying, and it’s happening at companies you might never have heard of. Here’s a peek at...
John Dorfman: 6 stocks I would shun
Wall Street issues about eight buy recommendations for every sell recommendation. But at times, knowing when to sell is the most important skill in the stock market. Here are six stocks I think you should sell now, if you own them. If you don’t own them, I’d avoid them. And...
John Dorfman: Regeneron, Weis Markets head up the Do Nothing Club
Stocks that soar or plunge get all the attention. But sometimes the best buys are in stocks that have done nothing for a while. That’s why, each year around this time, I write about my Do Nothing Club. Members of this club are stocks that are not far from where...
John Dorfman: Why I relish low-debt stocks
When it comes to picking stocks, most investors go gaga over earnings and pay little attention to a company’s financial strength. I say that a strong financial position is far more important than whether a company “beat consensus” by 10 cents a share in the latest quarter or failed to...
John Dorfman: 91-year-old man wins my stock-picking competition
In a crazy-good year for stocks, Robert Zedler, a 91-year-old retiree in Suffolk, Va., won Dorfman’s Three Stock Derby with a 334% return. Despite his age, Zedler’s picks in my stock-selection contest were newish companies. His biggest gainer was Plug Power Inc. (PLUG), a maker of hydrogen fuel cells. That...
John Dorfman: Old Faithful screen has lived up to its name
I’ve never seen the Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park. But I’m grateful to it. Years ago, I named one of my stock screens (computerized stock-picking aids) after it. And it has indeed served me faithfully. I use the screen to help pick stocks for clients, and once a...
John Dorfman: 4 small stocks that look like undiscovered gems
For a long time, academics and investors were convinced that small stocks outperform large ones. The theory was that small stocks, because they carry greater uncertainty, sell at a discount to large ones. Investors in the small fry are rewarded for taking extra risk. Proving the theory was difficult. Many...
John Dorfman: Nvidia, Adobe lead off 30-30 club
Only 41 baseball stars have ever made the 30-30 club — the likes of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Mike Trout. To make it, you have to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season. I have a 30-30 club for corporations. To make it, they have...
John Dorfman: Knocked down, these 3 stocks may rise again
When stocks are punished, it’s not always for a good reason. That’s why I compile a quarterly Casualty List of stocks that have been banged up in the latest quarter and which I think have the potential to provide above-average gains. On the whole, the Casualty List has been successful....
John Dorfman: 5 intriguing stocks to target outside U.S.
I think a big boom is coming in the U.S., which may keep a richly valued stock market out of trouble. But you never know. Some international diversification is usually a good idea. And I think it’s wise now, since U.S. stock valuations are high and interest rates are rising...
John Dorfman: Six stocks to play the value revival
It’s been a long time coming, but the great value comeback appears to be underway. The value school of investing, to which I adhere, seeks to find stocks selling for bargain prices compared to their intrinsic net worth. In the 30 years through 2009, value outperformed growth 19 times. That...
