This article is part of our Rising Star Portfolios Series.
Most investors don't keep tabs on their companies' fundamental value. That's a mistake. If you take the time to read past the headlines and crack a filing now and then, you're in a much better position to spot potential trouble early. Better yet, you'll improve your odds of finding the underappreciated home run stocks that provide the market's best returns.
We can help you keep tabs on your companies with MyWatchlist.com, our free, personalized stock tracking service. Here are three stocks from my watchlist.
1. CAPS Weekly Top Stock Idea: Dell (Nasdaq: DELL )
Each week, I cull a top stock idea from the pitches made on CAPS, The Motley Fool's 170,000-member free investing community. Dell, a pick from last month, caught my eye since it has remained relatively unchanged from where it was picked. Dell has remained a cash cow of a business, but it's not appreciated by Wall Street. While rivals Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL ) and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL ) have seen their shares rise this past year, Dell continues to languish in value stock territory, providing an opportunity for patient investors to get in at a low price.
To see the original Dell pitch selected for CAPS' Weekly Top Stock Idea, click here. If you want to follow my weekly picks, you can subscribe to the series' RSS feed or follow on Twitter: @CAPSTopStocks.
2. Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE: MLM )
Martin Marietta Materials and Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC ) sell crushed rock, gravel, and sand, collectively known as aggregates. Since many people don't want quarries near where they live and because it is prohibitively expensive to build a new one, there are large barriers to entry for new competition. This, combined with the high cost of shipping, has led to many local monopolies around the country. This gives the companies pricing power, and when demand is down, they can raise prices to maintain cash flow. For instance, aggregate volumes were down nearly 35% this past year, but prices rose 20%. When you combine local monopolies, pricing power, and staying power, you know you've found a great business.
3. Yukon-Nevada Gold (OTC: YNGFF.PK)
Yukon Nevada owns a gold mine in Nevada that was shut down by the EPA for emissions violations. The company also owns a roasting facility with significant unused capacity for processing ore. Production has since been restarted under new management. Like the situation with Taseko Mines (AMEX: TGB ) , investors are betting on a change of fortune for the company. While both of these companies would most likely take a tumble if gold prices drop, the company could be a multi-bagger if things work out well. Many value investors believe Yukon-Nevada is cheap. For a deep dive on this stock, check out this blog post from CAPS member AAOI (Above Average Odds Investing).
My Foolish bottom line
If you're looking for more information on these companies, keep checking in on my Rising Star portfolio in the coming weeks as I look further into each of them.
This article is part of our Rising Star Portfolios series, where we give some of our most promising stock analysts cold, hard cash to manage on the Fool's behalf. We'd like you to track our performance and benefit from these real-money, real-time free stock picks. Click here to see all of our Rising Star analysts (and their portfolios).
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