In this segment from Motley Fool Money, host Chris Hill asks senior analysts Jason Moser, Matt Argersinger, and Ron Gross to discuss the companies they have their eyes on. Listen in to find out why they picked Healthcare Services Group (HCSG +0.78%), Ameris Bancorp (ABCB +0.18%), and MercadoLibre (MELI +0.79%).
A full transcript follows the video.
This video was recorded on May 11, 2018.
Chris Hill: Let's get to the stocks on our radar this week. Our man behind the glass, Steve Broido, is going to hit you with a question. Ron Gross, you're up first. What are you looking at this week?
Ron Gross: Steve, do you like tires -- no, I'm just kidding. I've got Healthcare Services Group, ticker HCSG. Housekeeping and nutritional services for 3,500 facilities such as hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes. Really long history of profitability, recently expanded into food services. It's a very fragmented industry, but they're kind of the big guns here. They've increased their dividend for 58 consecutive quarters. That dividend now stands at a 2% yield, and I think the stock still has some nice upside to it.
Hill: Steve, question about Healthcare Services Group?
Steve Broido: How did you find this thing?
Gross: [laughs] This is recent recommendation in the Total Income service.
Hill: Jason Moser, what are you looking at?
Jason Moser: Sure. Going to jump back down to Georgia for Ameris Bancorp, ticker ABCB. Little $2 billion market cap bank that just keeps on growing. It's really been a story of total assets. The FDIC saw this as a worthy partner back in the days of the financial crisis to help cleanse the banking system of bad business. They've grown that total assets base from around $2.5 billion in 2010, it's going to be about $11.5 billion by the end of this year with a couple of acquisitions that are rolling in. Just a well-managed little bank. At the time, you'd have been crazy to invest your money in a small-cap Georgia bank. That was Ground Zero at the time. But, man, these guys have really made it work. The stock has just been on a tear since that financial crisis, up about 400%, and I really don't see any reason for it to stop.
Hill: Steve, Ameris Bancorp?
Broido: We hear a lot about this war on cash. Is this bank affected in any way?
Moser: They have ATMs, Steve. They have ATMs.
Hill: Matt Argersinger, what are you looking at?
Argersinger: I'm going to be a bit of a [...], I'm sticking with MercadoLibre, ticker MELI. I think you have to take a look if you haven't in the past. It's down almost 25% from its recent high. Recent results were outstanding. And I know I talked about Argentina, I'm a little worried about that. But I think management's strategy of really focusing on free shipping, payments, user loyalty, even if it's costing margin in the short-term ... it's a company that you just want to take a look at. And, Jason said, I think Amazon lost out on Flipkart. MercadoLibre is sitting out there, shiny trophy potential.
Hill: Steve, question about MercadoLibre?
Broido: When we talk about shipping in Latin America, who does this shipping? Is it a national postal service like we have here combined with private shippers?
Argersinger: Wow. I believe there are national postal services like we have in the United States, but for MercadoLibre, they use a network of commercial private shippers that go between countries in Latin America for a lot of their shipping.
Hill: Three very different businesses, Steve. Do you have one you want to add to your watchlist?
Broido: I think I'm going with Ron's weird healthcare company.
Gross: [laughs] There's nothing weird about it!
