Your expectations can use a refresh button.
The best thing about growth stocks is that they often grow into their seemingly outlandish valuations. As long as earnings continue to grow, good things will typically follow.
Things get even more interesting when bottom-line growth outpaces gains in share price. Over time, that's a winning recipe for any investor.
The term "next year's earnings" now refers to 2012, and you may be amazed at how quickly some of the market's seemingly overpriced players are growing. Loftier profit targets translate into lower forward P/E multiples.
I've been taking a look at five unexpected cheapies during these past few weeks. Let's try a few more.
|
Company |
Close |
This Year P/E |
Next Year P/E |
My Watchlist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Kodiak Oil & Gas |
$6.25 | 18 | 7 | Add |
|
Magic Software |
$5.28 | 14 | 11 | Add |
|
JDS Uniphase |
$19.59 | 21 | 17 | Add |
|
Taseko Mines |
$4.84 | 9 | 10 | Add |
|
Cirrus Logic |
$15.81 | 13 | 11 | Add |
Source: Yahoo! Finance. JDS Uniphase's fiscal year ends in June and Cirrus Logic's fiscal year ends in March.
Valuation is only a number
If you look only at trailing multiples, you'll often come away thinking a stock is pricey. But there's often more to a basket of presumably pricey stocks than meets the cynical eye.
Kodiak's been making the most of the spike in energy prices and President Barack Obama's push to replace import demand with an increase in domestic production. The Denver-based company saw its oil and gas revenue more than double during the first quarter, and things are about to get a whole lot better on the bottom line. The pros see Kodiak earning $0.35 a share this year, and $0.84 a share come 2012. In other words, Kodiak's P/E drops into the single digits if we look out to next year.
Magic Software provides enterprise software solutions. The Israeli company has become a globetrotter in the industry. French e-purchasing specialist Oxalys Technologies and Glasgow's financial data manager AutoRek have inked recent deals with Magic Software. Revenue and earnings climbed 29% and 68%, respectively, in its latest quarter.
JDS Uniphase is holding up better than many of its rivals in optical networking. Weeks after niche bellwether Finisar
Copper miner Taseko has had it with the wild commodity swings. It recently purchased put options to cover the rest of its production for the balance of the year. It's now assured of making no less than $3.61 a pound for its remaining 2011 copper production, giving Taseko some welcome downside pricing protection.
Finally, we have Cirrus Logic. Analysts see the chip maker posting generally flattish bottom-line results in its latest fiscal year that began last month. The attraction here is that a 22% bottom-line uptick for next year pushes its P/E from the low teens presently into the preteens going forward.
Adding it up
None of these stocks are immune to a market meltdown. If you're looking for bulwarks, you'll have to find them somewhere else.
These investments are largely high-beta growth stocks, and will likely remain that way for several more years. The key here, though, is that they aren't as expensive as pundits make them out to be. It's the opportunity that you didn't know that you were waiting for.
Interested in reading more about any of these stocks? Add them to My Watchlist to find all of our Foolish analysis. And if you like these five stocks, check out the six stocks that Tom and David Gardner think you should be watching in a free special report.
