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5 Turnaround Companies That Came Back From the Brink of Disaster

With the bull market now over six years old, investors have to have considered on multiple occasions which stocks are still offering great value and which ones may need to be reconsidered. That often puts the world of turnaround stocks front and center for value investors. Some turnarounds have turned massively, some turnarounds have had starts and restarts, and some turnarounds have simply never been able to get going.

Looking at these trends that have brought some these companies back from the dead, we might see some transition from turnaround stocks at this point to value stocks. At the same time, these companies that have proved they are capable of a turnaround are generally able to perform even better when they are not under duress of being close to the edge.

24/7 Wall St. has amassed a list of companies that have effectively turned themselves around, and five of them stand firmly above and beyond the rest: Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD), T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE: TMUS), Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY), Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU).

In this list we have included background on each company surrounding its turnaround, as well as some color on where shares have been trading recently and the consensus target from analysts.

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Rite Aid

Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) recently announced its April same-store sales increased from the same month a year ago. However this is only continuing a trend that Rite Aid has had in the works for a few years now. This company was only about a $1 stock in 2012 but since that time it has reached as high as the $9 mark.

Even after exponential gains, Rite Aid is still a fraction of its glory days from the 1990s. This trend has been primarily driven by steadily increasing revenue over the years. Not to mention, Rite Aid received an absolutely huge tax break at the end of its 2015 fiscal year.

Rite Aid shares were trading at $5.84 late on Friday. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $10.00 and a 52-week trading range of $4.42 to $9.07.

T-Mobile US

T-Mobile US Inc. (NYSE: TMUS) has been in the midst of its turnaround for a couple of years now, and its growth has been during a four-way price war for wireless subscribers. It has had to fight the likes of AT&T, Verizon and Sprint for market share, and so far it has had good results.

The turnaround has been market share driven, but ultimately this is reflected in the revenue increases year over year. For example, at the end of 2012 T-Mobile had roughly 42 million customers with the MetroPCS deal. Revenue increased from $19.7 billion in 2012 to $29.5 billion in 2014. Its customer base was listed as being closer to 55 million at the end of 2014, and 56.8 million at the end of the first quarter of 2015.

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One interesting twist of fate came T-Mobile’s way. AT&T had been trying to acquire T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom in a $39 billion deal, but the deal was going to get blocked and AT&T had to talk away — and it had to pay a $4 billion breakup fee. T-Mobile seems to be on the right track to keep growing, and the vocal and colorful John Legere as CEO just loves taking his shots at the rivals via his un-carrier model.

T-Mobile shares were changing hands at $36.49, in a 52-week trading range of $24.26 to $36.68. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $40.35.

Best Buy

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) has seen its shares of ups and downs over the past decade. Its stock has been plagued by volatility and a general downward trend through 2012. After the bear market in 2008 and 2009, shares recovered into the mid-$40s — only to end up falling to almost as low as $10 in late 2012. Since that share price trough, this stock has gone back above $40, then fallen back into the $20s, and recently went back to almost $40 before settling in the mid-$30s.

Best Buy’s turnaround was helped somewhat by the housing recovery and the plethora of new appliances and its lineup of great TVs being sold there. This company also has made strides price matching other competitors; its fight to not just be a virtual showroom for Amazon. Another effort has been Best Buy’s dedicated stores-within-a-store model.

Late on Friday, shares of Best Buy were at $34.33. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $42.83 and a 52-week trading range of $25.88 to $42.00. Best Buy continues to trade at a discount to retailers at less than 14 times expected current year earnings.

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Sirius XM

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) looked like it might implode during the recession, if you were watching its stock. The satellite radio giant was able to stay afloat and then grow due to its number one position for the installation of its devices in new cars. This stock traded down into the land of penny stocks, then recovered to $1 and has since climbed up to the $4 mark.

Sirius XM owes a lot to Mel Karmazin for his hand in keeping the company growing and refinancing the debt. Karmazin brought in John Malone with rescue financing, even if that came at a cost, and even if Malone made out like a bandit. Sirius XM was effectively able to refinance all the coming debt and prevented a second to worst case scenario from taking place.

The company is now in a post-Karmazin era and has so far also been able to retain Howard Sterne to keep him and his listeners there. Other artists and personalities have been added over the years to continually bolster the talent lineup.

Shares of Sirius XM were trading around $3.90 on Friday, within its 52-week range of $3.14 to $4.04. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $4.47.

Micron Technology

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was absolutely suffering back in 2012, with shares valued around $5. In fact, Micron shares were just never able to hold on to any recovery, up until the past two years. Only now are investors and analysts saying that this turnaround stuck, and many investors are evaluating Micron as a value stock rather than as a growth stock.

Micron made a key acquisition of Elpida after the Japanese company just could not make it on its own. What this did was to help make the world’s top independent DRAM maker a much more solid memory maker, with the future of flash memory now firmly planted inside Micron.

It might be more than just worth mentioning that Micron’s gross profit has increased exponentially over the past three years. The company has been able to embark on a share buyback plan as well.

Micron shares were at $27.33 on Friday, below its consensus analyst price target of $38.41. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $25.61 to $36.59.

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