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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.

CANGO INC - ADR (CANG) is a small-cap growth stock in the Business Services industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Joseph Piotroski changed from 60% 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: Cango Inc. provides an automotive transaction service platform, which connects dealers, financial institutions, car buyers and other industry participants. The Company's services primarily consist of automotive financing facilitation, automotive transaction facilitation and after-market services facilitation. It offers integrated solutions that support the life cycle of automotive financing transactions, including credit origination, credit assessment, credit servicing and delinquent asset management services. It provides additional services, including car sourcing and logistics and warehousing support for dealers and facilitation of car purchases for car buyers. The Company's also facilitates after-market services to car buyers, which is comprised of facilitating the sale of insurance policies from insurance brokers or companies. The products offered through its platform are personal accident insurances and automotive insurances.

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 CANGO INC - ADR

VITRU LTD (VTRU) is a small-cap growth stock in the Schools 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: Vitru Ltd is a Brazil-based company that operates in the Higher Education segment by offering digital education undergraduate programs as well as on-campus undergraduate programs, graduate courses, technical and professional qualification courses. The Company's mission is to democratize access to education in Brazil through a digital ecosystem. Vitru Ltd offers more than 330 courses through the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), which is delivered in multiple formats (videos, eBooks, podcasts, and html texts, among others), offering accessible digital contents to different learning styles. The Company's portfolio comprises Technical Courses, Professional Qualification Courses, Digital Education Undergraduate Courses (Bachelor's, Licentiate's, and Vocational degrees), OnCampus Undergraduate Courses (Bachelor's, Licentiate's, and Vocational degrees) as well as DE Graduate programs. Vitru Ltd has several subsidiaries such as FAC Educacional Ltda and FAIR Educacional Ltda.

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 VITRU LTD

BRAZILIAN ELECTRIC POWER CO - ADR (EBR) is a large-cap growth stock in the Electric Utilities industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Joseph Piotroski changed from 70% 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: Brazilian Electric Power Co is a Brazil-based energy company. It generates and transmits the electric power across Brazil through regional subsidiaries and numerous Special Purpose Entities (SPE). Most of the Company's installed capacity derives from low-carbon energy sources: hydro, wind, solar and nuclear. The Company's activities can be divided into four operation areas: Energy Generation, Energy Transmission, Energy Efficiency and Governmental Programs. Brazilian Electric Power Co manages three programs of the Brazilian government in the electrical energy sector: the National Electrical Energy Conservation Program, the National Program for Universalization of Access and Use of Electrical Energy and the More Light for the Amazon Program. The Company has several subsidiaries, including Companhia de Geracao e Transmissao de Energia Eletrica do Sul do Brasil Eletrobras CGT Eletrosul, Companhia Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco and Centrais Eletricas do Norte do Brasil SA Eletronorte.

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 BRAZILIAN ELECTRIC POWER CO - ADR

TIMBERLAND BANCORP INC (TSBK) is a small-cap value stock in the Regional Banks 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: Timberland Bancorp, Inc. is a holding company for Timberland Bank (the Bank). The Bank is a community-oriented bank, which offers a variety of savings products to its retail and business customers while concentrating its lending activities on real estate secured loans. Its lending activities are focused primarily on the origination of loans secured by real estate, including residential construction loans, one-to-four-family residential loans, multi-family loans and commercial real estate loans. The Bank also originates commercial business loans and other consumer loans. It offers personal checking, savings accounts, timberland financial services, health savings accounts, online banking, cash management and remote deposit, ACH transactions, merchant services, and others. The Bank serves consumers and businesses across Grays Harbor, Thurston, Pierce, King, Kitsap and Lewis counties, Washington with a full range of lending and deposit services through its 23 branches.

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 TIMBERLAND BANCORP INC

NISSAN MOTOR CO LTD (ADR) (NSANY) is a large-cap value stock in the Auto & Truck Manufacturers industry. The rating according to our strategy based on Joseph Piotroski changed from 60% 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: NISSAN MOTOR CO.,LTD. is a Japan-based company mainly engaged in the manufacture and sale of automobiles and parts, as well as the provision of sales financial services. The Company operates through two business segments. The Automotive segment is engaged in the manufacture and sale of electric vehicles, compact cars, light cars, minivans, commercial vehicles, trucks, micro buses and other automobiles, as well as related parts. The Sales Finance segment is engaged in the sales finance business and the leasing business to support sales activities of automobile business.

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 NISSAN MOTOR CO LTD (ADR)

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.