Fave Five (3/23/2018)

Our Fave Five essentially represents a listing of stocks with favorable short term total return forecasts (1 year, according to Analyst Consensus Estimates, or ACE) combined with strong long-term return forecasts and good/excellent quality rankings. The median 1-year ACE total return forecast is 16.2%.

Our five stocks this week hail from the top quintile (top 20%) of all stocks ranked by quality. We then sought the five highest 52-week total return forecasts according to analyst consensus.

NutriSystem (NTRI) rejoins the Fave Five tracking portfolio after a brief hiatus. NTRI was selected back on 11/9/2017 and proceeded to recede more than 20% versus the general stock market, so it was jettisoned about a month ago. With the stock price dropping from $51 to $28, we’ll give it another go — but with a careful watch on the quality rating. Slowing of sales growth with 2017 year-end resembling 2016 is causing some consternation and we’ll keep the company under the microscope with the 4/19/2018 update.

CVS Health (CVS) has appeared frequently in Fave Five results and is featured in a number of portfolios, including its #12 ranking in the MANIFEST 40 most widely-followed companies. CVS was first added to the Fave Five tracking portfolio back in December 2015 … and has been fairly disappointing with a return of (-10.1% annualized) since selection. We also note that CVS Health has been showing up on a number of Triple Play screening results, so we’ll continue to hope that earnings will advance … and that stock price will follow EPS.

The Long and Short of This Week’s Fave Five

Long & Short Term Perspectives. (March 23, 2018) Projected Annual Return (PAR): Long term return forecast based on fundamental analysis and five year time horizon. Quality Ranking: Percentile ranking of composite that includes financial strength, earnings stability and relative growth & profitability. 52-Week Position: Position on scale between 52-week low price and 52-week target price. VL Low Total Return (VLLTR): Low total return forecast based on 3-5 year price targets via Value Line Investment Survey. Morningstar P/FV: Ratio of current price to fundamentally-based fair value via www.morningstar.com S&P P/FV: Current price-to-fair value ratio via Standard & Poor’s. 1-Year ACE Outlook: Total return forecast based on analyst consensus estimates for 1-year target price combined with current yield. The data is ranked (descending order) based on this criterion. 1-Year S&P Outlook: 1-year total return forecast based on S&P 1-year price target.

Fave Five Legacy (Tracking Portfolio)

The relative/excess return for the Fave Five tracking portfolio is +4.7% since inception.

The absolute annualized rate of return is 17.8%.

Tracking Dashboard: https://www.manifestinvesting.com/dashboards/public/fave-five