Zacks.com featured highlights: AppFolio, FormFactor, LPL Financial Holdings and TriNet Group

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL –August 17, 2017 - Stocks in this week’s article include AppFolio Inc.(NASDAQ: APPF – Free Report), FormFactor Inc. (NASDAQ:FORM – Free Report), LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA – Free Report) and TriNet Group Inc. (NYSE:TNET – Free Report).

4 Top-Ranked Liquid Stocks for Healthy Returns

Identifying stocks that offer healthy returns may sometime prove to be a daunting task for investors. In that case, one may take liquidity levels into account as it is considered a good indicator of a company’s financial health.

Liquidity primarily indicates a company’s capability to meet debt obligations by converting assets into liquid cash and equivalents. These stocks have always been in demand due to their potential to provide maximum returns.

However, one should exercise caution before investing in such stocks. While a high liquidity level may imply that the company is meeting its obligations at a faster rate compared to peers, it may also indicate that the company is failing to use its assets efficiently.

Hence, one may consider the efficiency level of a company in addition to its liquidity to identify potential winners.

Measures to Identify Liquid Stocks

Liquidity ratios like Current Ratio, Quick Ratio and Cash Ratio are primarily used to identify companies with strong liquidity.

Current Ratio: It measures current assets relative to current liabilities. This ratio is used for measuring a company’s potential to meet both short- and long-term debt obligations. Thus, a current ratio – also known as working capital ratio – below 1 indicates that the company has more liabilities than assets. However, a high current ratio does not always indicate that the company is in good financial shape. It may also mean that the company has failed to utilize its assets significantly. Hence, a range of 1 to 3 is considered ideal.

Quick Ratio: Unlike current ratio, quick ratio – also called “acid-test ratio" or "quick assets ratio" – indicates a company’s ability to pay short-term obligations. It considers inventory excluding current assets relative to current liabilities. Like the current ratio, a quick ratio of greater than 1 is desirable.

Cash Ratio: This is the most conservative ratio among the three, as it takes into account only cash and cash equivalents, and invested funds relative to current liabilities. It measures a company’s ability to pay its current debt obligations using the most liquid of assets. Though a cash ratio higher than 1 may point to sound financials, a high number may indicate inefficiency in using the cash.

So, a ratio of greater than 1 is desirable at all times but may not always underline a company’s financial health.

Screening Parameters

In order to pick the best of the lot, we have added asset utilization, which is a widely used measure of a company’s efficiency, as one of the screening criteria. Asset utilization is a ratio of total sales over the past 12 months to the last four-quarter average of total assets. Though this ratio varies across industries, companies with a ratio higher than their respective industries can be considered efficient.

In order to ensure that these liquid and efficient stocks have solid growth potential, we have added our proprietary Growth Style Score to the screen.

Current Ratio, Quick Ratio and Cash Ratio between 1 and 3 (While liquidity ratios of greater than 1 are desirable, significantly high ratios may indicate inefficiency.)

Asset utilization greater than industry average (Higher asset utilization than the industry average indicates a company’s efficiency.)

Zacks Rank equal to #1 (Only Strong Buy-rated stocks can get through. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.)  

Growth Style Score less than or equal to B

(Back-tested results show that stocks with a Growth Style Score of ‘A’ or ‘B’ when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 handily beat other stocks.)

These criteria have narrowed down the universe of over 7,700 stocks to only eight.

Here are four of the eight stocks that qualified the screen:

Goleta, CA-based AppFolio Inc. (NASDAQ: APPF – Free Report) offers cloud-based software solutions for property management and legal industries. The company has a Growth Style Score of ‘A’ and an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 291.24%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2017 earnings has surged from a penny to 17 cents over the last 30 days.

FormFactor Inc. (NASDAQ:FORM – Free Report) develops, designs, manufactures, sells and supports high performance advanced semiconductor wafer probe cards. It has an average four-quarter earnings surprise of 28.58% and a Growth Style Score of ‘A’. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2017 earnings has increased 12.9% to 96 cents per share over the last 30 days.

Based in Boston, MA, LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA – Free Report) provides an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to more than 14,000 independent financial advisors, including financial advisors at more than 700 financial institutions across the United States. The company has a Growth Style Score of ‘B’ and an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 43.97%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2017 earnings has increased 6.5% to $2.62 per share over the last 30 days.

San Leandro, CA-based TriNet Group Inc. (NYSE:TNET – Free Report) is a provider of a comprehensive human resources solution for small to medium-sized businesses. The company offers payroll, tax administration, risk protection, performance management, compensation consulting, and employee benefit plans. The company has a Growth Style Score of ‘B’ and an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 43.02%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2017 earnings has increased 11.4% to $1.27 per share over the last 30 days.

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AppFolio, Inc. (APPF) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
FormFactor, Inc. (FORM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (LPLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
TriNet Group, Inc. (TNET) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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