In my heart, I am a pure numbers guy. I basically invest on just the numbers — on the fundamental and quantitative grades that are produced by the formulas based on my decades of research.
But I am aware that some investors want to find more qualitative measures that make them more comfortable owing stocks. To show how versatile Portfolio Grader really is, I thought I might look at some of these measures and demonstrate how this powerful tool can help you find the best stocks no matter how many other factors you add to the mix.
One measure that has received enormous amounts of attention over the years is insider buying and selling of stocks. Research has demonstrated that insider buying does provide some excess return over time … and that appeals to my inner geek. But if we look for insider purchases in stocks with the very best fundamentals right now, we should be able to improve our results.
Insiders have been buying shares in an American icon in recent weeks. If you’ve ever ventured out onto the highways, you’ve seen the orange-and-white U-Haul trucks hauling folks and their belongings from one place to another. Amerco (UHAL) is the parent company oif U-Haul as well as Oxford Life Insurance, Repwest Insurance Company and Amerco Real Estate. With the economy and real estate markets improving, people are packing and moving once again — and business has been fantastic for this company. So far this year earnings are up about 34% compared to last year, and growth is accelerating with a 49% gain in EPS in the most recent quarter. The stock receives the highest grade of “A” in Portfolio Grader — the stock is a “strong buy.”
As business conditions improve, consumers are buying and financing automobiles — and that’s great news for NetSol Technologies (NTWK). The company provides software solutions to the automobile industry that allows them to handle point-of-sale details, credit applications, and manage their floorplan financing more efficiently. The company reported record revenues in May for its fiscal third quarter. The CEO of NetSol, Najeeb Ghauri, like what he sees in his business: He has purchased more than 50,000 shares of his company’s stock in the past few months. Portfolio Grader likes what it sees as well, as it upgraded the stock to an “A” in February — another “strong buy.”
Portfolio Grader is a flexible tool for finding the very best stocks in any sector or classification. Combining it with other measures, such as insider buying, should allow you to vastly improve your results over just the qualitative measures themselves.
Louis Navellier is the editor of Blue Chip Growth.
