It's human nature to reach for the "sell" button when the market is going down. Warren Buffett's old adage about being greedy when others are fearful (and vice versa) sounds great in theory but is difficult to follow in practice.
So I understand if you're not exactly itching to put your money to work in the current market. The three leading market indexes are down by double-digit percentages in 2022 and nearly 80% of the stocks in the S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.03%) index are losing value this year. Everybody else is selling, and arguably for good reason -- so why shouldn't you follow suit?
This is exactly the kind of wealth-building moment in time that Buffett was referring to, though. If you're finding top-quality companies to invest in right now, the low-priced entry point will give you an advantage in the long run. Another well-known Buffett aphorism compares the market to a popularity contest in the short term but a weighing machine on a long time scale. Great businesses will prove their worth over time, eventually lifting up their undervalued stocks to the higher prices they deserve.
Today's market is packed with long-term winners on fire sale. However, it is also overflowing with lower-quality businesses that may not get back up when this bear market ends. The trick is to find the winners and avoid the duds. On that note, let me show you why Unilever (UL -0.06%) and Applied Materials (AMAT 1.55%) look like fantastic value stocks right now.
Unilever: A traditional value investment with a robust dividend
You know the British consumer goods giant Unilever for its household-name products, including Lipton tea, Breyers ice cream, Dove soap, and Hellmann's mayonnaise.
The company is currently revamping its brand portfolio in response to rapidly changing market conditions around the world. Earlier this year, Unilever reorganized its corporate structure in order to refocus around five business groups and lower the number of middle managers across the new organization. Some investors see these moves as signs of weakness, driving Unilever's stock 23% lower in the last 52 weeks:
However, I would argue that it's smart to adjust your business model in response to changes in the global economy. This flexible attitude has helped Unilever survive and thrive for nearly a full century now and should be just as helpful in the decades ahead.
Meanwhile, the stock trades at just 19 times trailing earnings and 2.2 times sales, placing Unilever firmly in Wall Street's bargain bin. The low share prices you see today also increase the effective yield you get from Unilever's generous dividend. The payouts have increased by 55% over the last decade and the current yield stands at a beefy 4.2%.
In short, the Unilever shares you buy at today's low prices should serve you well in the long run with robust dividends and a resilient product portfolio.
Applied Materials: The chipmaking industry rests on this company's shoulders
When chipmaking companies like Intel or Taiwan Semiconductor want to improve or expand their manufacturing facilities, they'll inevitably give Applied Materials a call. This company makes the machines, software, and materials that go into building modern microchips.
The semiconductor industry is working its way out of a multiyear shortage of manufacturing capacity, which started in the early days of coronavirus lockdowns and was accelerated by a plethora of factors. You'd think that an essential chipmaking infrastructure supplier like Applied Materials would skyrocket under these circumstances, but the stock chart is telling a different story. Applied Materials shares are down by 43% in 2022, changing hands for just 12 times trailing earnings today.
The company ran into the opportunity-making chip shortage from a more problematic angle in recent quarters. Those chip-building machines are also powered by microchips, and Applied Materials has had trouble finding enough components to fill incoming orders.
So this particular price drop makes sense at first glance, but it also looks much too steep and investors seem to have forgotten that Applied Materials is building an enormous order backlog. The company had unfilled orders worth more than two full quarters of revenue as of May's Q2 report, and that order pile is still growing.
So when the component-shortage logjam clears out, the modest revenue growth in recent quarters should turn into a torrential revenue stream. And as I pointed out earlier, the market is acting as if that day just won't come. That's a big mistake, and opportunistic investors should take advantage of Applied Materials' mispriced shares.
