The market has ticked down by 0.2% over the last five days. The FTSE 100 reached its 14-year high on Wednesday 3 September, but ongoing tensions in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, not to mention the Scottish vote and now news that Britain’s trade deficit expanded in July all continue to make investors jittery. However, not all news is bad news. These market trends have enabled some stocks to qualify for Stockopedia’s GuruScreens. Lets take a look.
Card Factory
When the Card Factory (CARD) completed its IPO in May 2014, the company’s share price dropped below its offer price on the first day of trading. Financial commentators saw this as a sign that the market’s appetite for new IPOs was cooling. But they spoke too soon. The company’s share price has appreciated by around 8% since the IPO date, and the company has recently qualified for Stockopedia’s Zulu Screen.
The company’s management seem confident. On 18 June, CEO Richard Hayes said that the “Board remains confident of the Group's ability to further grow market share for the foreseeable future.” The company therefore meets one of the qualitative criteria outlined in Jim Slater’s book, The Zulu Principle. Slater likes to see an optimistic statement from the company’s management.
Management seem upbeat partly because the the Card Factory has plans to open 50 new stores in the current financial year. Over the next 10 years, the firm also intends to expand its store portfolio to 1,200 stores - up from 742 in May 2014. This helps to explain why brokers expect the Card Factory to grow earnings by 45% over the next twelve months. The opening of new stores also means that the Card Factory meets a second qualitative criteria outlined by Slater, who likes to see companies with ‘Something new’.
Persimmon
The housebuilder, Persimmon (PSN) is going strong. March 2014 proved to be a difficult phase, when Persimmon’s share price dropped by around 8%. However, the company has edged ahead of the market by 1% this month, having already beaten the FTSE by 12% since September 2013. On the 2nd September 2014, these factors helped Persimmon qualify for the Value Momentum Screen - which filters for companies which trade near their 52 week price high, but still have a…
