Is the pivot into value stocks for real this time? That has been one of the biggest questions facing investors over the last three months of 2019. As the economic outlook deteriorated, then brightened again, it seemed like the right time to take chances on stocks considered undervalued.
But there have been some headfakes along the way, and with stock markets at all-time highs, some investors still need convincing that a multiyear run-up in stocks has further to climb.
See: Good news: the ‘stock-bond ratio’ just hit bottom. Here’s how to use it to invest.
In what might be seen as an attempt to thread the needle, analysts at Jefferies produced a list of stocks that they describe as “Value BUT growing” — that is, expected sales growth over 3% in 2020. The analysts also screened for companies that are reducing their debt, have market capitalizations between $750 million and $30 billion, and derive more than 20% of their sales from outside the U.S.
The Jefferies analysts in a research note dated Friday come up with 13 names that fit those criteria. They make a couple of points about other themes that inform their thinking, as well: “Smaller small-cap” stocks have more attractive valuations than larger ones, they say. And they’re “getting more excited” about the outlook for overseas economies versus the U.S.
| Company | Sector | Foreign sales % | Forward price/earnings |
| Aptiv PLC APTV, -1.53% | Discretionary | 73 | 17.5 |
| Energizer Holdings, Inc. ENR, +1.86% | Staples | 30 | 13.7 |
| Integra LifeSciences IART, -1.33% | Health care | 29 | 20.1 |
| Dentsply Sirona XRAY, -1.08% | Health Care | 68 | 20.9 |
| Masco Corp. MAS, +1.48% | Industrials | 21 | 17.9 |
| Textron. TXT, +1.19% | Industrials | 38 | 11.7 |
| Univar Solutions UNVR, +0.62% | Industrials | 43 | 14.8 |
| Woodward WWD, +0.69% | Industrials | 44 | 19.3 |
| Microchip Technology MCHP, +2.25% | Info tech | 80 | 16.5 |
| Motorola Solutions MSI, -0.06% | Info tech | 41 | 18.9 |
| ON Semiconductor ON, +1.01% | Info tech | 85 | 14.8 |
| SolarWinds Corp. SWI, -1.30% | Info tech | 39 | 20.2 |
| Valvoline VVV, -0.14% | Materials | 26 | 13.7 |
| S&P 500 | Broad market index | 38 | 18.1 |
Related: Wall Street has slammed the brakes on one of 2019’s hottest stock-market funds