Since growth stocks are trouncing value stocks these days, maybe the best, most obvious contrarian play is to identify the cheapest in the value stock universe.
Since growth stocks are trouncing value stocks these days, maybe the best, most obvious contrarian play would be to identify the cheapest in the value stock universe. Right now, a quick screen reveals that at least 4 insurance firms make the grade as “cheap” in the classic Benjamin Graham sense.
When the Columbia University business professor was writing Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor —and when Warren Buffett was his student more than 50 or 60 years ago — certain insurance stocks of that era were also considered cheap.
Without delving too deeply into the possible reasons for general investor avoidance of the sector this time around, here are a few names based solely on some of the key “value” metrics used to identify potential candidates.
AegonAEGN is New York Stock Exchange traded and headquartered in the Hague in the Netherlands.
The stock is available for purchase at just 21% of its book value. The price/earnings ratio is an extraordinarily low 3.66. Earnings were excellent last year but the expectation going forward is negative.
