News

The following are today's upgrades for Validea's Book/Market Investor model based on the published strategy of Joseph Piotroski. This value-quant strategy screens for high book-to-market stocks, and then separates out financially sound firms by looking at a host of improving financial criteria.

AMERICAN VANGUARD CORP. (AVD) is a small-cap growth stock in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Joseph Piotroski changed from 0% to 90% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: American Vanguard Corporation (AVD) is a diversified specialty and agricultural products company. The Company develops and markets products for crop protection and management, turf and ornamentals management and public and animal health. AVD conducts its business through, its principle operating subsidiaries, including AMVAC Chemical Corporation (AMVAC) for its domestic business and AMVAC Netherlands BV (AMVAC BV) for its international business. AMVAC is a manufacturer of chemical, biological and biorational products that develops and markets solutions for agricultural, commercial and consumer uses. AMVAC BV sells product both directly and through its network of subsidiaries in various international territories. The Company's products include insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, soil health, plant nutrition, molluscicides, and soil fumigants, which are marketed in liquid, powder and granular forms. It also manufactures microbial cleaning products BioMop-Plus and DrainGel.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

Detailed Analysis of AMERICAN VANGUARD CORP.

REPAY HOLDINGS CORP (RPAY) is a small-cap growth stock in the Consumer Financial Services industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Joseph Piotroski changed from 0% to 90% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: Repay Holdings Corporation is a payments technology company. The Company provides integrated payment processing solutions to industry-oriented markets in which clients have specific transaction processing needs. Its segments include Consumer Payments and Business Payments. The Consumer Payments segment provides payment processing solutions, including debit and credit card processing, Automated Clearing House (ACH) processing and other electronic payment acceptance solutions, as well as its loan disbursement product that enable its clients to collect payments and disburse funds to consumers and includes its clearing and settlement solutions (RCS) and Blue Cow Software business (BCS). Business Payments segment provides payment processing solutions, including accounts payable automation, debit and credit card processing, virtual credit card processing, ACH processing and other electronic payment acceptance solutions that enable its clients to collect or send payments to other businesses.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

Detailed Analysis of REPAY HOLDINGS CORP

DMC GLOBAL INC (BOOM) is a small-cap value stock in the Oil Well Services & Equipment industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Joseph Piotroski changed from 0% to 80% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: DMC Global Inc. is an owner and operator of asset-light manufacturing businesses. It owns and operates Arcadia, DynaEnergetics and NobelClad, three asset-light manufacturing businesses that provide differentiated products and engineered solutions to segments of the construction, energy, industrial processing, and transportation markets. Arcadia supplies architectural building products, including exterior and interior framing systems, curtain walls, windows, doors, and interior partitions to the commercial construction market. DynaEnergetics designs, manufactures, and distributes engineered products utilized by the global oil and gas industry for the perforation of oil and gas wells. NobelClad is engaged in the production of explosion-welded clad metal plates for use in the construction of corrosion resistant industrial processing equipment, as well as specialized transition joints for use in construction of commuter rail cars ships, and liquified natural gas processing equipment.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

Detailed Analysis of DMC GLOBAL INC

About Joseph Piotroski: Piotroski isn't your typical Wall Street big shot. In fact, he's not even a professional investor. He's a good old numbers-crunching accountant and college professor. But in 2000, shortly after he started teaching at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, Piotroski published a groundbreaking paper in the Journal of Accounting Research entitled "Value Investing: The Use of Historical Financial Statement Information to Separate Winners from Losers". In it, Piotroski laid out an accounting-based stock-selection/shorting method that produced a 23 percent average annual back-tested return from 1976 through 1996 -- more than double the S&P 500's gain during that time. Piotroski's findings were reported in major financial publiations like SmartMoney. Today, he teaches accounting at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.

About Validea: Validea is aninvestment researchservice that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.