Cash is the lifeblood for a company’s existence, development and success. It gives strength and vitality to a company, the flexibility to make decisions, the means to make potential investments and the fuel to run its growth engine, thus reflecting its true financial health.
In this regard, stocks like Publicis Groupe S.A. PUBGY, M/I Homes, Inc. MHO, Modine Manufacturing Company MOD and Karat Packaging Inc. KRT are worth buying.
Though investors flock to companies that earn profits, even a profitable business can succumb to failure if its cash flow is uneven, and eventually file for bankruptcy. Nonetheless, one can effectively judge a company’s resilience by evaluating its power of generating cash flows as cash not only guards from market mayhem but also indicates that profits are being channelized in the right direction. Amid uncertainties in the global economy, market disruptions and dislocations, as well as liquidity concerns, this has become all the more important.
To figure out this efficiency, one needs to consider a company’s net cash flow. While in any business cash moves in and out, it is net cash flow that explains how much money a company is actually generating.
If a company is experiencing a positive cash flow, it denotes an increase in its liquid assets, which gives it the means to meet debt obligations, shell out for expenses, reinvest in the business, endure downturns and finally return wealth to shareholders. On the other hand, a negative cash flow indicates a decline in the company’s liquidity, which in turn lowers its flexibility to support these moves.
However, having a positive cash flow merely does not secure a company’s future growth. To ride on the growth curve, a company must have its cash flow increasing because that indicates management’s efficiency in regulating its cash movements and less dependency on outside financing for running its business.
Therefore, keep yourself abreast with the following screen to bet on stocks with rising cash flows.
Screening Parameters:
To find stocks that have seen increasing cash flow over time, we ran the screen for those whose cash flow in the latest reported quarter was at least equal to or greater than the 5-year average cash flow per common share. This implies a positive trend and increasing cash over a period of time.
In addition to this we chose:
Zacks Rank 1: No matter whether market conditions are good or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) have a proven history of outperformance.
Average Broker Rating 1: This indicates that brokers are also highly hopeful about the company’s future performance.
Current Price greater than or equal to $5: This sieves out low-priced stocks.
VGM Score of B or better: This score is also of great assistance in selecting stocks. Importantly, this scoring system helps in picking winning stocks in their industry categories.
Here are our four picks out of the 14 stocks that qualified the screening:
Publicis Groupe S.A. is a global advertising and communications organization, offering a range of services to companies in 100 countries, with particular strength in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and North America.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Publicis Groupe’s earnings for the current year has moved 6.1% north in the past month. PUBGY currently has a VGM Score of B.
M/I Homes is one of the nation’s leading builders of single-family homes. The company designs, markets, constructs and sells single-family homes and attached townhomes to first-time, move-up, empty-nester and luxury buyers.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for M/I Homes’ current-year earnings has moved up 34.2% over the past month to $16.88 per share. MHO has a VGM Score of A.
Modine Manufacturing operates primarily in a single industry consisting of the manufacture and sale of heat transfer equipment. These include heat exchangers for cooling all types of engines, transmissions, auxiliary hydraulic equipment, air conditioning components used in cars, trucks, farm and construction machinery and equipment, and heating and cooling equipment for residential and commercial building heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Modine Manufacturing’s fiscal 2024 earnings has moved 15.7% north in the past month to $2.72 per share. MOD sports a VGM Score of A.
Karat Packaging is a specialty distributor and manufacturer of disposable foodservice products and related items. Its products include food and take-out containers, bags, tableware, cups, lids, cutlery, straws, specialty beverage ingredients, equipment, gloves and other products. The company also offers customized solutions, including new product development and design, printing and logistics services.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Karat Packaging’s current-year earnings has moved up nearly 28% to $1.83 per share over the past month. KRT has a VGM Score of A.
Publicis Groupe SA (PUBGY): Free Stock Analysis Report
Modine Manufacturing Company (MOD): Free Stock Analysis Report
M/I Homes, Inc. (MHO): Free Stock Analysis Report
Karat Packaging Inc. (KRT): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
This article originally appeared on Zacks