The S&P 500 is within spitting distance of its all-time high, but that doesn't mean every stock is overpriced. In fact, we asked a team of investors to highlight a stock that they think is trading at a bargain-bin price at the moment. They highlighted Best Buy (BBY 0.30%), American Outdoor Brands (AOBC +0.26%), and JAZZ Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ +1.37%).
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Best Buy is worth a closer look
Demitri Kalogeropoulos (Best Buy): It's not hard to find cheaply priced retailers these days, given that so many are enduring slumping sales trends. It's rarer to see a physical retailing business like Best Buy that's enjoying healthy operating results -- but still priced as if it's a lost cause.
The consumer-electronics giant's comparable-store sales growth sped up to a 5.4% pace last quarter even as gross profitability held steady at 24%. At the same time, cost cuts allowed operating margin to tick higher to 3.6% of sales from 3.4%.
Sure, second-quarter results were lifted by the liquidation of a key competitor, and so investors can't count on having that robust growth pace become the new normal. Its core niche, after all, is still highly susceptible to threats from e-commerce specialists.
However, healthy consumer spending trends and a stacked calendar for innovative tech launches ahead in mobile computing and video gaming persuaded the company to raise its sales and profit outlook for the year. Hitting those higher targets will be just one step in a long road back to persistent growth for this retailer. But investors are being offered a discount for those risks, with the stock valued at just 15 times the past year's earnings, compared with the broader market's P/E of 24.
Off the mark
Rich Duprey (American Outdoor Brands): Sure, the owner of the Smith & Wesson brand of guns just reported a loss, and even on an adjusted basis it fell well short of analyst expectations. But there's no reason for American Outdoor Brands should be as cheap as it is.
The gunsmith has been in a funk since last November's elections, when the imperative to buy a firearm evaporated with Donald Trump's victory. Gun sales have appreciably slowed since last year, with FBI background checks on potential gun buyers running about 9% lower. But 2016 was a unique year for the industry, considering the possible electoral outcome, and it should be thought of as more of an outlier. If you look back to 2015, you'll see that background checks this year are actually running 18% higher.
But the market doesn't respond as it used to about gun sales, since, even when the FBI reported that August checks were about 4% above the year-ago figure, American Outdoor Brand's stock and that of industry peer Sturm, Ruger barely moved on the news.
All of that means investors have a great opportunity to pick up a quality company at an extreme discount. American Outdoor Brands trades at just six times earnings, eight times next year's estimates, and a fraction of its earnings growth rate. The market is practically pricing the gunmaker as if it's going out of business, and the market's mispricing is a unique chance to buy the stock that will rebound sharply once the market turns, as it assuredly will.
Up 39% year to date and still dirt cheap
Brian Feroldi (Jazz Pharmaceuticals): It's not often you get to call a growth stock that's up 39% year to date "cheap," but I believe that's the situation with Jazz Pharmaceuticals.
Jazz is a commercial-stage biotech that focuses on rare diseases. The company's cash cow is a drug called Xyrem that treats narcolepsy. While Xyrem has been on the market for several years, it's still producing mid-single-digit growth, which is impressive since the drug is on pace to exceed $1.2 billion in total sales for 2017.
Beyond Xyrem, Jazz has a handful of other drugs in its portfolio that crank out dependable profits. The list includes Defitelio, a drug that treats hepatic veno-occlusive disease, and Erwinaze, a drug that treats leukemia and lymphoma. When combined, these drugs should tack on another $320 million to the top line this year.
As for the company's growth potential, Jazz recently won FDA approval for a leukemia drug called Vyxeos. Peak sales estimates for Vyxeos are around $400 million per year, which, if achieved, will further strengthen Jazz's portfolio and help push its profits higher. The company also boasts an exciting sleep-disorder drug called JZP-110 in its pipeline that should be in regulators' hands this year. This drug also promises to eventually add on another $400 million to $500 million in annual sales.
Between its current lineup and pipeline, analysts predict that Jazz's profits will grow in excess of 17% annually over the next five years. Despite the growth potential and recent stock price gains, Jazz's shares can currently be purchased for around 12 times next year's earnings estimates. I'd argue that's a bargain price for such a fast-growing company.
