Source: Flickr/Random Retail.
Shares of great companies more often than not come with a hefty price tag. Investors shouldn't be afraid to pay up for quality stocks, as long as the price is reasonable, but occasionally great stocks go on sale, offering prices that don't reflect the strength of the underlying company. Our Foolish contributors have identified three stocks -- Best Buy (BBY -0.81%), Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ -1.23%), and Enterprise Products Partners (EPD 0.48%) -- that fall into this category. Here's what they had to say.
Tim Green (Best Buy): When it comes to retail, a certain e-commerce company from Seattle gets most of the attention. But ignoring the rest of the retail sector would lead one to miss out on some great deals. Best Buy, a consumer electronics retailer that has staged a dramatic turnaround over the past few years, is a good example.
Best Buy was in trouble a few years ago. While it had survived the financial crisis, something that former rival Circuit City failed to do, the company was going nowhere fast. Sales and profits were slumping, the company's e-commerce efforts were at best an afterthought, and a scandal involving the previous CEO came at the worst possible time.
Under the leadership of current CEO Hubert Joly, who took over in late 2012, the company has turned things around. Comparable-store sales are growing again, investments in e-commerce are paying off, and profits have been rising. A focus on lower prices and improved customer service, along with cost cuts that have removed layers of management and streamlined operations, have saved the company from following in Circuit City's footsteps.
Best Buy now sits in an enviable position, being the only remaining nationwide consumer electronics retailer left standing. The stock has declined a bit in recent months, trading around $34.50 per share, and this price represents a great deal for investors. Over the past 12 months, Best Buy has generated $1.16 billion of free cash flow, putting the stock price at just about 10.5 times this number. With a solid dividend, a cash-rich balance sheet, and a share buyback program in place, Best Buy has a lot to offer investors.
George Budwell (Jazz Pharmaceuticals): While nearly all blue chip biotechs and biopharmas have taken a beating over the last two months, the stock that has really caught my eye during this fire sale is Jazz Pharmaceuticals, which has dropped almost 13% year to date and is currently off its 52-week highs by a whopping 26%.
Why is this biopharma stock a great choice for investors? Jazz is a mid-cap biopharma specializing in the development and commercialization of treatments for rare diseases. Its flagship product, Xyrem, for example, is indicated for narcolepsy, an uncommon condition that leads to excessive daytime sleepiness.
Drugs for rare diseases such as Xyrem are worth their weight in gold for biopharmaceutical companies, for a couple of reasons. First off, they tend to command premium pricing structures and generally receive little to no pushback from payers because of their small target populations. Next up, these types of products are eligible to receive extended periods of exclusivity through the Orphan Drug Act of 1983. Orphan drugs can thus generate substantial revenue streams for their manufacturers by virtue of their high prices, and these growing revenues tend to be sustainable over long periods of time.
Jazz, for instance, is projected to grow its top line by 13.3% next year, fueled largely by growing Xyrem sales, according to data provided by S&P Capital IQ. That level of growth is hard to beat among mid-cap biopharmas right now, making this rare-disease drugmaker a potentially great buy following its recent slide.
Matt DiLallo (Enterprise Products Partners): With the price of oil being cut in half over the past year, it has created quite a fallout within the energy sector. Almost every energy-related stock has been hammered, and Enterprise Products Partners is no exception. Even though nearly its entire revenue stream is fee-based, and therefore largely immune to commodity price volatility, its stock is down 27% this year.
Aside from its limited exposure to commodity prices, Enterprise has three other important factors that make it a great stock. First, its balance sheet is one of the strongest among master limited partnerships, thanks to its strong investment-grade credit rating. Second, it has one of the strongest distribution coverage ratios at 1.4, suggesting that its robust 5.5% distribution is on solid ground. Finally, the company has very visible growth thanks to having $8 billion in projects under construction that are expected to be in service over the next two years. Most of these projects are not just fee-based but also demand-driven, meaning they benefit from lower oil and gas prices.
Enterprise Products Partners offers investors three compelling ways to win. First, they benefit from collecting its generous distribution, which, unlike so many other energy-related dividends, won't be cut thanks to its strong balance sheet, healthy coverage ratio, and fee-based income stream. In addition, investors can win as normality returns to the energy sector, leading to a price recovery, after fear-driven selling pressure abates. Finally, with $8 billion in projects under construction, investors will benefit from the increased income stream that's on the way, which should lead to not only higher distributions but also a higher unit price. Add it up, and this is one great stock on sale.
