News

The following are today's upgrades for Validea's Contrarian Investor model based on the published strategy of David Dreman. This contrarian strategy finds the most unpopular mid- and large-cap stocks in the market and looks for improving fundamentals.

LINCOLN NATIONAL CORP (LNC) is a mid-cap value stock in the Insurance (Life) industry. The rating according to our strategy based on David Dreman changed from 69% to 99% 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: Lincoln National Corporation is a holding company, which operates multiple insurance and retirement businesses through subsidiary companies. Its segments include Annuities, Life Insurance, Group Protection and Retirement Plan Services. The Annuities segment provides tax-deferred investment growth and lifetime income opportunities for its clients by offering variable annuities, fixed annuities and indexed variable annuities. The Life Insurance segment provides life insurance products, including term insurance, indexed universal life insurance (IUL) and variable universal life insurance (VUL) products, linked-benefit products, and critical illness and long-term care riders. The Group Protection segment offers group non-medical insurance products and services, including short- and long-term disability, statutory disability and paid family medical leave administration. The Retirement Plan Services segment provides employers with retirement plan products and services.

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 LINCOLN NATIONAL CORP

About David Dreman: Dreman's Kemper-Dreman High Return Fund was one of the best-performing mutual funds ever, ranking as the best of 255 funds in its peer groups from 1988 to 1998, according to Lipper Analytical Services. At the time Dreman published Contrarian Investment Strategies: The Next Generation, the fund had been ranked number one in more time periods than any of the 3,175 funds in Lipper's database. In addition to managing money, Dreman is also a longtime Forbes magazine columnist.

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.