Investing

5 Stocks to Buy With Almost Perfect Balance Sheets

When stock analysts do the proverbial deep dive into a company, they look for those that are hitting on all cylinders, not just on sales and revenue, but with pristine balance sheets to match. In a new report, Jefferies ran a screen looking for stocks that match a very stringent set of guidelines.

The Jefferies team screened for stocks that had positive return on invested capital, were under-levered and had EV/EBITDA under eight times, which equals a company’s enterprise value divided by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. Lastly, they looked for positive earnings revisions and companies bigger than $4 billion in market capitalization.

Of the 19 stocks that met the grueling metrics, we picked the five top companies to buy.

Intel

This company literally can be considered almost a value technology stock. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was recently highlighted as one of the companies having among the highest shareholder cash returns at approximately 8%. This goes along with any outstanding free cash flow yield of 7.63%. The iconic chip giant had a stellar 2014 on the tailwind from continued personal computer (PC) and notebook sales, but it has suffered this year as PC sales have slowed. The stock has underperformed the S&P 500 year to date.

Intel warned first-quarter earnings and forward guidance would be less than expected, and it delivered just that back in April. The stock has turned up since and is offering patient investors a solid entry point. With that in mind, PC sales for the second quarter are tracking below estimates, so investors should be cautious and scale into the stock

Intel investors are paid an outstanding 3.0% dividend. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $34.64. Shares closed trading on Thursday at $32.38.

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LyondellBasell

This is a top chemical company with a sterling balance sheet. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE: LYB) manufactures chemicals and polymers, refines crude oil, produces gasoline blending components and develops and licenses technologies for production of polymers. After getting crushed last fall, the stock has rallied back nicely.

The company has generated an outstanding earnings per share (EPS) growth rate of 20.63%. What is even more impressive is the European chemical giant is looking to grow EPS at a rate of 7.13%, which is much higher than the industry average of 2.44%.

With outstanding cash flow growth, and a huge market share standing, the stock makes good sense for long-term growth investors.

Shareholders are paid a very solid 3.1% dividend. The consensus price objective is $110.84. Shares closed trading on Thursday $104.82.

EOG Resources

This is a leading energy company that shows up well on the Jefferies screens. EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) is the top producer in the Eagle Ford Shale, and it has solid positions in both the Bakken and Permian Basins, making it a perfect fit for an integrated looking to expand in those areas, should a purchase or merger make sense. EOG has come up in takeover chatter this year.

This is also a stock that hedge fund guru Kyle Bass owns, who is known for having an extremely keen eye when it comes to balance sheets. So it is no surprise that this company resides in the Hayman Capital portfolio.

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As of the end of last year, EOG reported total estimated net proved reserves of 2,497 million barrels of oil equivalent, including 1,140 million barrels (MMBbl) crude oil and condensate reserves, 467 MMBbl natural gas liquid reserves and 5,343 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves.

EOG investors are paid a small 0.75% dividend. The consensus price target is $102.54, and shares closed on Thursday at $88.81.

Anthem

This top health care provider may be looking to make a big deal soon. Anthem Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) is part of the large merger chatter on Wall Street for the health care sector, and many think the company is making a run at Cigna. Anthem’s health plan companies deliver quality products and services that give their members access to the care they need. With more than 68 million people served by its affiliated companies, including more than 37 million enrolled in its family of health plans, continued growth is not out of the question with an aging population that is living longer.

The company also has been buying back shares of its stock at a very strong rate of 9.9% over the past five years. In the first quarter of 2015, it repurchased another 5.7 million shares of its common stock for $774 million and had $4.9 billion remaining in its repurchase authorization.

Anthem investors are paid a 1.5% dividend. The consensus price target is posted at $171.65. The shares closed Thursday at $165.24.

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Deere

This company has seen some headwinds from the strong dollar, but it remains a very solid long-term buy. Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) manufactures and distributes agriculture, construction and forestry equipment worldwide. The company’s Agriculture and Turf segment provides agriculture and turf equipment, and related service parts, including large, medium and utility tractors; loaders; combines, corn pickers, cotton and sugarcane harvesters, and related front-end equipment and sugarcane loaders; and tillage, seeding and application equipment, including sprayers, nutrient management and soil preparation machinery.

Deere’s Construction and Forestry segment provides backhoe loaders; crawler dozers and loaders; four-wheel-drive loaders; excavators; motor graders; articulated dump trucks; landscape loaders; skid-steer loaders; and log skidders, feller bunchers, log loaders, log forwarders, log harvesters and related attachments that are used in construction, earth moving, material handling and timber harvesting applications.

It also has a financial services division that helps with product financing, and any pickup in domestic and foreign growth would be a huge tailwind for the company.

Deere investors are paid a 2.6% dividend. The consensus price target is $87.83, but the stock closed way above that figure Thursday at $92.60.

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If you combine sterling balance sheets with strong sector prominence, you then have a recipe for success. All these companies are outstanding buys for long-term growth investors.

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