The Research Zone

A One-Page Quick Analysis of a Stock

An Aid to the Stock Selection Guide
Regular readers of BI are all quite familiar with
the Stock Selection Guide (SSG) developed by
NAIC. These prudent investors know that the
SSG is a fundamental tool and its use is critical
in the selection of a stock to buy, or in the
decision to continue holding and, in some
cases, to sell. A proper SSG analysis (particularly the manual SSG) requires significant time
commitment since it involves plotting of vari-

ous sales and earnings data, figuring out

growth rates, calculations of P/Es, future
price forecasting, and calculation of upsidedownside potentials. Even with the use of SSG
computer software, we still need to input various numbers and determine what appropriate
values to use for different calculations. But . . .
how do we decide which stock(s) should be
considered for such a detailed SSG analysis?

by Kaush Meisheri, Ph.D.

Kalamazoo, Mich.
As long-term investors, we are always in search of good
stocks that could be worthy of investment. If we keep our
eyes and ears open for business magazine articles, business
television shows and Internet (not to mention friendly tips
through brokers, family members and co-workers), it is not
unusual to have a half-dozen company names in any given
month that could be potential investment choices for investment club or individual portfolio considerations.
To do detailed SSG analysis on this many companies is rather
impractical, but without such an analysis we really cant tell if
a company is worthy of investment.
Thus, it would be desirable if we could
have a preliminary but still reliable way
of quickly analyzing a stock to determine if it deserves serious analysis.

while developing this analysis: 1) As the name suggests, it

should be quick. With some practice, this one-page analysis
should take no more than five minutes to complete. 2) The
Value Line sheets provide all the answers; and 3) Visual analysis with no (or minimal) calculations should be sufficient.
The Quick Analysis, by definition, is focused on a qualitative
appraisal of a stock worthy of investment, with the idea that a
quantitative analysis would follow by using the SSG. In short,
no calculators, no rulers, no colored pencils and no computers!
I imagined this as a sheet someone could take to the public
library and while going through the current Value Line, use to select companies
of further interest.

With this in mind, this article presents a

one-page Quick Analysis which might
be considered as Pre-SSG analysis.
The sole purpose of this quick analysis is
to identify excellent companies worthy
of SSG analysis, and the ones that are
more likely to pass the SSG analysis.
(Editor s Note: Mr. Meisheris Quick
Analysis differs from one of NAICs classic
stock study forms, the Stock Check List, in
that the Stock Check List serves more as a
training tool or training wheels for
doing the more detailed SSG study. The
Quick Analysis simply presents a set of
yes/no questions that can be answered in
just a few minutes to help an investor
decide whether or not the company might
be worth analyzing on an SSG.)
I had the following guidelines in mind
MARCH 1998

Kaush Meisheri, Ph.D. is a member of

NAIC, a member of the Black & Blue
Partners Investment Club of Kalamazoo, Mich., and a private investor.
He has shared some of his research with
BI readers in the past, and we are
pleased to publish his latest effort.
Comments are welcome by writing
Kaush Meisheri, Ph.D, 416 Edgemoor,
Kalamazoo, MI 49001 or e-mail
[email protected]

The Quick Analysis is developed as a

series of questions that can be answered
in a yes or no fashion, with all
answers derived from the Value Line
report. In the following section, I will
first present the Quick Analysis questionnaire along with rationale behind
each question. I will also present an
actual stock analysis using this method
and in the process, demonstrate where to
look in Value Line for answers to these
questions.

Quick Pre-SSG Analysis

The questions that form the Quick
Analysis are presented in Table 1 (see
page 61). The questionnaire is designed
to address four basic attributes of a
stock worthy of serious investment
consideration:
Continued on next page

Page 59

Quick Analysis continued from page 59

I. Is the company profitable and productive, showing consistent records?
(Questions 1 - 6)
II. Is the managements handling of
business and finances superior?
(Questions 7 - 14)
III. Is the companys future growth rate
attractive? (Question 14)
IV. Is the stock selling at a price that
might be in the buy range? (Question 15)
I have selected the medical device company, Medtronic, Inc. (MDT) for the
purposes of quick analysis and discussion. A modified copy of the Sept. 12,
1997 Value Line report on Medtronic is
presented in Table 2 (see page 64). In
order to demonstrate to the reader
where to look for the answers to the
Table 1 questions, I have shown corresponding numbers on the Value Line
report in Table 2. Finally, Table 3 (bottom
of page 64) shows a copy of the completed Quick Analysis of Medtronic. A
detailed discussion of questions follows:

Question 1
Have sales increased continuously for
five years? The first question in Table 1
addresses the productivity record of a
company. Does the company sell products that consumers want to buy? In
the Value Line report for Medtronic, I
have marked where to look for Sales
information (marked as #1 and 2 in
Table 2). In the first question, we are
looking at the most recent five-year history since in most cases, a five-year
period can represent a reasonable business and economic cycle.
If a company has managed, for five
years in a row, to increase its sales each
year over the previous year, this would
be the first indication that the company
has worthwhile products and has managed to remain productive. In the case
of Medtronic (Table 2), we begin to look
backwards at sales figures starting with
1996 (the most recent year completed)
and go back till 1992 and see that the
company has indeed managed to
increase its annual sales each of these
past five years.
Continued on page 63

Page 60

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TABLE 1: ONE PAGE QUICK ANALYSIS OF A STOCK

An Aid to the Stock Selection Guide (SSG)
COMPANY NAME:__________________________________ Date of Analysis:____________

QUESTIONS

Have Sales increased continuously for 5 years?

Have Sales doubled in 5 - 7 years?

Have Earnings Per Share increased continuously for 5 years?

Have Earnings Per Share doubled in 5 years?

Any Dividend paid during the past 5 years?

Has Dividend Per Share increased continuously for 5 years?

Is current Operating Margin (OM) 15%?

Over the past 3 years, is OM stable/increasing ?

Is current Return on Equity (ROE) 15%?

10

Over the past 3 years, is ROE stable/increasing?

11

Is current Long Term Debt less than 1/3 of Net Worth?

12

Are Current Assets twice the Current Liabilities?

13

Does Cash plus Receivables equal or exceed Current Liabilities?

14

Is Projected Growth in EPS and Dividends at 15%?

15

Is Current P/E in the range of past 5 years Ave. P/Es?

16

SUMMARY: Is the Stock Worthy of SSG Analysis?

YES

NO

Table 1: One-Page Quick Analysis of a Stock. This table is presented in a full-page format and has been left blank so that interested readers could make copies for their use.
Tables 2 and 3 on page 64 show where information can be found in Value Line to
complete the form, as well as a sample of a completed form on Medtronic (see story).

MARCH 1998

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One-Page Quick Analysis continued

At this point, we may not even know what these products are,
but we know that many customers want them! Thus, the
answer to question #1 is yes, which we note in Table 3. As
an optional exercise, we continue to look further back and note
that Medtronic has actually managed to increase its sales continuously at least for the past nine years, which would suggest
superior performance, and we note this in Table 3 (I say at
least because Value Line provides Sales data only for the past
ten years. If we were interested in going back further, we
could look at the sales per share numbers which are given in
the first row in Value Line).

Question 2

Question 4
Have earnings per share (EPS) doubled in five years? This
question addresses the rate of earnings growth. We are looking
for a company that has at least doubled its EPS in the past five
years, indicating a minimum of about a 15 percent annual
growth rate of profits. For Question 4, we see in Table 2 that
Medtronic has roughly doubled its EPS in the past three years,
which is also impressive. We note the growth rate of 25 percent in Table 3 for Medtronics earnings.
Hint: If the answers to the first four questions are all clearly
negative, we could stop the analysis since it is quite unlikely
that the company is worthy of further consideration based on
the fundamentals. Uninterrupted growth in sales as well as
earnings at respectable rates are the cornerstone of solid investment selections, and a true-blue fundamental investor should
be very reluctant to compromise in these criteria.

Have sales doubled in five to seven years? The second

question gives us a quick idea of the rate of sales growth. A
basic characteristic I look for in a growth stock is growth at
a rate of 15 percent per year, meaning that the company
would have doubled its sales in the past
five-year period (this would be somewhat less than 15 percent, but close
A basic characteristic I
enough). For large companies (annual
sales of about $4 billion or more), a sales look for in a growth stock
growth rate of roughly 10 percent is growth at a rate of 15
(meaning doubling of sales in seven
percent per year, meaning
years) would still be respectable. Thus,
we are looking for companies that have that the company would
at least doubled their sales in the five to have doubled its sales in
seven-year period.
the past five-year period.
In the case of Medtronic, we see in Table 2
(#1 and 2) that the 1996 sales figure is
$2,438.2 million. We take this as roughly $2.4 billion and we
look back to see when the sales were $1.2 billion (half of $2.4
billion), and we see that in 1991 the sales figure was 1,176.9
million, which is roughly $1.2 billion. So Medtronic has indeed
doubled its sales in the past five years. This positive answer
we note in Table 3 for question 2.
(Helpful Hint: For compound growth rates, it is helpful to
remember that tripling in five years would roughly represent a
compound growth rate of 25 percent a year; doubling in five
years equals about 15 percent; tripling in seven years equals
about 17 percent; and doubling in seven years equals about 11
percent.) We note in Table 3, the 15 percent compound growth
rate for Medtronics sales.

Question 3
Have earnings per share increased continuously for five
years? This question addresses the profitability record of the
company. Has the company managed to be continuously
profitable? Again, we are looking for companies that have
uninterrupted increases in Earnings Per Share (EPS) in the
past five years. In the case of MDT, we see that the EPS (see
#3 and 4 in Table 2) has indeed increased continuously for
the past five years. As an optional exercise, we go further
back and see that Medtronic has increased its EPS continuously for the past 12 years, which should impress us! We
note this in Table 3.
BETTER INVESTING

Finally, it should be noted that the companies with less than five years of documented history of sales and earnings would not
be included in such an analysis. In fact,
the SSG analysis encourages us to plot the
past 10 years sales and earnings data to
help project future growth. We may find
high growth companies with less than five
years of history that have shown their
sales and earnings double (or even triple)
in less than a five-year period. However,
such companies would carry more risk
since they have no proven track record
during a variety of different conditions that are experienced
during a normal business and economic cycle.

Questions 5 and 6
History of dividend payment. These two questions should be
considered optional. A lack of dividend payment in a solid
growth company is not necessarily negative (example,
Microsoft). However, a small dividend payment that continues
to increase in a solid growth company should be considered a
definite positive (example, Intel). In the case of Medtronic
(Table 2, #5 and 6), the company has been paying a dividend
for at least the past 15 years, and the dividend has continuously increased for the past eight years. These positive answers
are noted in Table 3. As a further optional exercise, we could
also determine the rate of growth of dividend payments. In
the case of Medtronic, the dividend payment has tripled in the
past five years, increasing from $0.06 in 1991 to $0.19 in 1996.
This would represent a compounded growth rate of 25 percent
which we note in Table 3.

Questions 7 and 8
Operating margin (OM). These two questions deal with the
managements ability to extract profits from the sales of companys products (i.e., managements ability to operate the busiContinued on next page

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One-Page Quick Analysis continued

ness). Operating income is a pre-tax number
and represents the difference between income
from goods sold and the cost of making and
selling the goods. (Editors Note: Operating
income is not the same as the pre-tax profit used
in SSG analysis, but for most companies it represents the vast majority of total pre-tax profits.)
The operating margin (OM) are these pre-tax
profits expressed as percent of sales. The
Value Line report provides Operating Margin
as shown in Table 2 (#7 and 8).
I would consider a 15 percent OM as a
respectable target, and a consistent OM of
20 percent over the past three years as superior. Of course, the higher a companys OM
is, compared to its industry competitors, the
better. In contrast, if OM has declined three
to five percent over the past three years,
that should constitute a yellow flag for a
company, especially when combined with
stagnant or eroding sales. Some of the
highly successful industry leaders boast
eye-popping OMs in the 25 - 50 percent
range, including companies such as CocaCola, Merck, Microsoft, Intel and Cisco, to
name a few. We see that Medtronic also
boasts an excellent current OM of 39 percent, and that it has been increasing over
the past three years (Table 2, #7 and 8).
Again, both of these answers are very positive for the companys management (and an
indication that Section 2A of the SSG might
also present quite a positive picture.)

TABLE 1: ONE PAGE QUICK ANALYSIS OF A STOCK

An Aid to the Stock Selection Guide (SSG)

MEDTRONIC (MDT)

12/97

COMPANY NAME:__________________________________ Date of Analysis:____________

QUESTIONS

Have Sales increased continuously for 5 years?

9 yrs.

YES

Have Sales doubled in 5 - 7 years?

5 yrs.
(15%)

Have Earnings Per Share increased continuously for 5 years?

12 yrs.

Have Earnings Per Share doubled in 5 years?

3 yrs.
(25%)

Any Dividend paid during the past 5 years?

15 yrs.

Has Dividend Per Share increased continuously for 5 years?

8 yrs.
(25%)

Is current Operating Margin (OM) 15%?

39%

Over the past 3 years, is OM stable/increasing ?

Is current Return on Equity (ROE) 15%?

28%

10

Over the past 3 years, is ROE stable/increasing?

11

Is current Long Term Debt less than 1/3 of Net Worth?

1%

12

Are Current Assets twice the Current Liabilities?

13

Does Cash plus Receivables equal or exceed Current Liabilities?

14

Is Projected Growth in EPS and Dividends at 15%?

20%

15

Is Current P/E in the range of past 5 years Ave. P/Es?

16

SUMMARY: Is the Stock Worthy of SSG Analysis?

NO

Copyright 1997 by Value Line Publishing, Inc. Printed with permission. References to the accompanying article have been added by BI.

Questions 9 and 10
Return on equity (ROE). These two questions deal with the
managements ability to enhance return on companys investments, and represents how well the management can fuel companys internal growth using shareholders money. Value Line
reports provide Return on Equity (ROE) as % Earned Net
Worth (see Table 2, #9 and 10). (Similar to Section 2B of the SSG)
I consider a stable ROE of 15 percent as respectable and 20 as
superior. Some of the highly successful industry leaders that
boast tremendous ROEs (30 percent or better) include CocaCola, Merck, Gillette, Philip Morris, Microsoft, Intel and Cisco.
For Meditronic, we see (#9 & 10 in Table 2), that the current
ROE is 28 percent, and that it has remained over 22 percent for
the past three years. A high, stable ROE coupled with a high,
stable OM speaks volumes for this companys management.

Questions 11, 12 and 13

Long term debt and day-to-day financing. These three quesContinued on page 66

Page 64

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One-Page Quick Analysis continued

tions deal with the managements ability to handle long-term
as well as day-to-day finances. Long term debt can be helpful
in financing growing businesses. However, too high a debt
can be a burden in times of a weak, inflationary economy since
high interest payments on the debt could prove to be a drain
on earnings. I offer this analogy: long term debt is like the
extra weight carried around by a marathon runner. When the
runner is in good shape and full of energy, she doesnt feel the
weight at all. But towards the end of the race when she is
drained of energy, this extra weight can feel deadly.

idends are projected to grow at annual rates of 20.5 percent

and 23.5 percent respectively, well above our expectations of
15 percent. We should, however, keep in mind that the future
growth estimates can and do indeed change over time, and
thus it is important to obtain analysts consensus estimates that
are as recent as possible. With the advent of the Internet, it
should be possible to supplement the Value Line information
with the most current data on analysts earnings estimates
once the stock otherwise looks worthwhile.

Question 15
As a norm, I dont think long term debt should exceed onethird of the net worth of the company. (Editors Note: Some
investors expand that to one-third of total capitalization, i.e.
net worth plus long term debt.) Some huge companies are
prospering without carrying much or any long term debt
(examples, Microsoft, Intel, Merck). In the case of Medtronic
(Table 2, #11), we see that compared to its net worth of $1.7 billion (1996), its long term debt of $14 million is negligible (less
than 1 percent).
Next, the levels of current assets and cash should be such that
day-to-day financial obligations can be met without undue
stress. Here are two basic norms for analyzing this.

Is the current P/E within or below the past five years average
P/E range? This question is really a proxy for another question
we want to ask but cant, because it is not possible to answer it
easily. That question is, Is the stock in the buy range? However, heres a way we can guesstimate if the current stock
price might be in the buy range if we were to do an SSG analysis. (Editors Note: Be careful with this one, readers! Remember,
were guessing, and were guessing using someone elses estimates
and projections. When it comes to answering the buy-range question,
there are no shortcuts to a full Stock Selection Guide analysis.)

Value Line provides both the current P/E as well as the average annual P/E (see #15 in Table 2). In
1. To have current assets that are twice the
When it comes to answer- general, if the current P/E (this changes as
current liabilities (this is also called
the price of the stock changes), is within or
Current Ratio). We can ascertain this in ing the buy-range question, below the range of the past five years of
two different ways from Value Line. First, there are no shortcuts to a average annual P/Es, then chances are
we see directly in Table 2 (#12), that full Stock Selection Guide that the stock price would be in the buy
Medtronics current assets (of $1,237.9
range on an SSG, provided that the compamillion) are more than double the current analysis.
nys earnings are projected to grow at the
liabilities ($518.7 million). The other way
same rate or higher than the past earnings
is to see if the working capital (Table 2, #12A) is greater than
growth. So, if the answers to questions 4 and 14 are positive,
the current liabilities. This works because, working capital, by
then a yes answer to question 15 would suggest that the
definition, is current assets minus current liabilities.
stock might be in the buy price range. A current P/E that is
higher than the highest average P/E achieved in the past five
2. To have cash and receivables equivalent to current liabilities.
years would suggest that chances are the stock would not be in
(This is also called Quick Ratio.) The company should have
the buy range currently on an SSG.
enough cash on hand to meet the immediate liability obligations.
As can be seen from Table 2 (#13), Medtronic has cash plus receivOne approach would be as follows: If all of the 14 questions
ables ($250.6 million plus $516.9 million) that are more than the
above have strongly positive answers, then go ahead and do
current liabilities ($518.7 million). Value Line also provides an
the SSG analysis to determine the buy price range. You could
additional two years of history for these numbers for comparison.
then follow the company and look for an appropriate price at
which to buy the stock. In the case of Medtronic, we see that
Thus, Medtronic has a very low long term debt, and appears to
the current P/E of 34 (as of Sept. 12, 1997) is much above the
have sufficient current assets and cash to meet the day-to-day
past five-year range of average P/Es (18 - 28), and thus, the
business obligations, providing overall very high marks for
stock is not likely to be in the buy price range. However, since
Medtronics management team.
Medtronic scores all the positive answers, we will proceed to
do the SSG analysis.

Question 14
Question 16
Future growth potential. This question deals with the companys future growth prospects, since we are interested mainly in
companies that are likely to grow at a rate of 15 percent or better. Such companies are likely to fulfill our objective of doubling our investment in five years. Here we rely on the professional analysts (such as Value Lines) understanding of the
company, the business and the industry as a whole. In the case
of Medtronic, we see from Table 2 (#14), that earnings and divPage 66

Summary. This summary question is easy to answer in the case

of Medtronic since all the answers are positive. Here is a company with a superior history of sales, earnings and dividend
increases, consistently for reasonably long periods (five years or
longer), at attractive growth rates (15 percent or better), with
Continued on page 80

BETTER INVESTING

One-Page Quick Analysis continued from page 66

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Compustat
Datafiles

highly capable and proven management, and with excellent

future growth prospects. Thus, it is clear that the company
appears to be an excellent candidate for long-term investment,
especially if the stock can be bought within the buy price range,
and thus worthy of a detailed SSG analysis.
As pointed out before, if the first four questions result in negative answers, we might want to discard that company and
move on to find a better stock. Of course, the more positive
answers for the stock, the better selection it is likely to be.
We should also be on the lookout for the balance of the positive answers.
For example, even if the answers to the first four questions are
highly positive, a declining OM coupled with poor ROE numbers should be a red flag. Or, if a successful company is trying
to grow rapidly with too much debt and very little cash
reserves for contingencies, we have reason to be concerned. A
solid investment choice is a company that not only grows by
selling desirable products profitably, but also has a proven
management that is well prepared to meet the unexpected
demands of the business. In case of doubt, one should not hesitate to look for companies with more positive answers. They
are out there to be found.

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In conclusion, I have found this methodology useful in identifying superior corporations, and I am happy to share it with
my fellow investors. Actually, the idea of this Q&A list was
derived from the original research I carried out during my earlier efforts directed at identifying high quality DRP companies,
which I have shared with BI readers (see Nov. 1997 issue). My
personal experience has been that using this list of questions
has made me think of various specific aspects of a companys
business, not just what its stock price has done lately.
Gradually over time, this Quick Analysis has become a mental
check list when I visit the local library studying weekly Value
Line reports. I glance over sales, earnings and dividend histories mentally checking to see if they have grown uninterrupted
and if they have at least doubled in the past five years. If I am
still interested in the company, then I glance over the OM and
ROE history, and finally look at the long-term debt and current
financial position.

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As I said before, this is only the beginning of the selection process. If the initial screening process is successful, I naturally
want to know more about the company. It is, of course, very
useful to know the companys products and competitors.
What is unique about this company and its products? There is
also something to be said about accessing the companys annual report or recent quarterly report (hard copy or online) to
understand its future growth strategy, and read more about
what other analysts think of the company.
As the NAIC principles teach us, a fairly strict adherence to
fundamentals like these could help us to not chase every stock
that has doubled in the past 12 months or is a sure bet to double, but rather focus on solid long-term investment prospects.

Developed by NAIC Software and Standard & Poors Compustat, Inc.

Happy Hunting!
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