If you're aiming to "buy low and sell high," then it makes infinite sense to start your search with bargain-priced stocks. Regularly reviewing a list of stocks trading near their 52-week lows can be a great first step.
Here, I'll try to do the initial legwork for you. To prevent us from being inundated with scores of disparate companies, I'll conduct my search by industry. This will allow us to make some initial comparisons among semi-related companies.
There are 24 industry groups as defined by the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). Software and services is one of them.
Below are the top ten companies in this space (by market cap) that are hugging 52-week lows.
|
Company |
Market Capitalization |
% Change from |
P/E Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Microsoft |
218,311.3 |
11.6% |
12.1 |
|
Adobe |
14,350.9 |
10.8% |
31.5 |
|
Activision Blizzard |
13,701.0 |
12.7% |
43.4 |
|
Paychex |
10,126.8 |
13.6% |
20.9 |
|
SAIC |
5,857.8 |
6% |
11.4 |
|
Electronic Arts |
5,155.9 |
11% |
NM |
|
Nuance Communications |
4,620.0 |
19.9% |
NM |
| Equinix |
3,427.4 |
8.3% |
64.4 |
| Total System Services |
3,154.6 |
19.2% |
15.2 |
| Global Payments |
3,131.3 |
13.6% |
16.0 |
Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Data as of October 24, 2010.
This is an interesting mix of companies near lows. Let me highlight a couple.
Microsoft has matured enough where it's no longer a growth story but a blue chip. So much so that fellow Fool Morgan Housel highlighted it in our "10 Core Stocks" series. Click here to read that write-up.
One that's been on my watchlist for quite some time is Paychex. It's always been just a wee bit pricey for my tastes, but its payroll processing business is quite solid. If you like Paychex, also check out its larger competitor ADP. I'd love to have both in my portfolio at the right price.
If you are interested in reading more about these stocks, add them to My Watchlist to find all of our Foolish analysis on them.
