News & Resources

BPYU, QDEL, and TSLA are top for value, growth, and momentum, respectively

By MATTHEW JOHNSTON

 Updated Oct 1, 2020

The Russell 1000 Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of the 1000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. It represents approximately 92% of the total market capitalization of all listed stocks in the U.S. equity market. For that reason, it is considered a bellwether for large-cap investing. Some of the largest companies in the index include Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Facebook Inc. (FB), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). The Russell 1000's total return is 15.7% over the past 12 months, as of September 29, 2020.1 All statistics in the tables below are as of September 30.

Here are the top 5 stocks with the best value, the fastest growth, and the most momentum.

Best Value Stocks

Value investing is a factor-based investing strategy in which you pick stocks that you believe are trading for less than what they are intrinsically worth, usually by measuring the ratio of the stock's price to one or more fundamental business metrics. A widely accepted value metric is the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E Ratio). Value investors believe that if a business is cheap compared to its intrinsic value, in this case as measured by its P/E ratio, the stock price may rise faster than others as the price comes back in line with the worth of the company. These are the stocks with the lowest 12-month trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio.

Best Value Stocks

Price ($)

Market Cap ($B)12-Month Trailing P/E Ratio

Brookfield Property REIT Inc. (BPYU)11.820.71.1

Brighthouse Financial Inc. (BHF)26.512.51.2

NRG Energy Inc. (NRG)29.707.31.8

Ardagh Group SA (ARD)14.333.42.4

NortonLifeLock Inc. (NLOK)20.8612.33.4

Source: YCharts

• Brookfield Property REIT Inc.: Brookfield Property REIT is a subsidiary of Brookfield Property Partners LP (BPY). The subsidiary operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) intended to provide investors economic equivalence to its parent. Brookfield is a diversified global real estate company with a portfolio that includes 2,000 assets in 30 countries.2 It owns and operates a large portfolio of office, retail, multifamily, industrial, hospitality, student housing, and manufactured housing assets. It aims to generate long-term returns on equity of 12%-15%.3

• Brighthouse Financial Inc.: Brighthouse Financial is a financial services company that provides annuities and life insurance to more than 2 million customers in the U.S. The company has total assets of $235 billion, total liabilities of $214 billion, and assets under management (AUM) of $207 billion.4 It operates through four major segments, including annuities, Life, Run-Off, and Corporate & Other.

• NRG Energy Inc.: NRG Energy is an integrated power utility company that produces, sells, and distributes energy and energy services to approximately 3.7 million customers across the U.S. The company generates about 23,000 megawatts of electricity, of which 43% derives from natural gas, 34% from coal, and the remaining percentage coming from oil, renewables, and nuclear.5 6 NRG Energy announced in the latter half of August that its proposed acquisition of Direct Energy from Centrica PLC was approved by Centrica's shareholders. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2020.7

• Ardagh Group SA: Ardagh Group is a Luxembourg-based materials company that manufactures containers and packaging products using 100% recyclable materials. The company operates 56 metal and glass production facilities in 12 countries and employs more than 16,000 people globally.8

• NortonLifeLock Inc.: NortonLifeLock is a software technology company that offers cyber security to nearly 50 million consumers. The company offers solutions aimed at helping its customers secure their devices, identities, online privacy, and other digital security needs.9 The company announced in early July the appointment of Natalie Derse to the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Ms. Derse most recently served as the Vice President and CFO of Global Product, Platform, Payments, Risk and Trust at Ebay Inc. (EBAY).10

Fastest Growing Stocks

Growth investing is a factor-based investing strategy in which you invest in businesses that you believe will grow significantly faster than the market as a whole. There are different growth metrics, but one of the most widely used is growth in profits, as measured by earnings per share (EPS). Growth investors believe that if a company consistently grows profits faster than the market as a whole, its stock price will rise as investors seek to get a share of future profits. These are the stocks with the highest year-over-year (YOY) EPS growth for the most recent quarter.

Fastest Growing Stocks

Price ($)Market Cap ($B)EPS Growth (%)

Quidel Corp. (QDEL)215.009.05,070

Zoom Video Communications Inc. (ZM)465.50132.43,050

Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM)247.45225.22,490

Albertsons Companies Inc. (ACI)13.756.51,350

Berry Global Group Inc. (BERY)47.676.31,320

Source: YCharts

• Quidel Corp.: Quidel is a diagnostic healthcare manufacturer whose offerings include rapid diagnostic testing solutions, cellular-based virology assays, and molecular diagnostic systems. The company, founded in 1979, is a leader in making products for infectious diseases and reproductive health, and produces AmpliVue, the world's first FDA-cleared handheld molecular device.11 The company reported net income growth of 5,226.9% on revenue growth of 86.4% in Q2 2020, which ended June 30, 2020. Net income was boosted by lower cost of sales and operating expenses as a share of sales. Quidel said that revenue growth was driven by strong demand for its newly launched Sofia® SARS Antigen and Lyra® SARS-CoV-2 tests, both of which are used in testing for COVID-19. Both tests received Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA during the quarter.12

• Zoom Video Communications Inc.: Zoom Video Communications is a communications technology company that provides video-first communication platform and Web conferencing services. Its cloud platform offers video, voice, content sharing, and chat for mobile devices, desktops, telephones, and room systems.13 The platform supports up to 1,000 video participants and 10,000 viewers on a single conference call.14 Zoom reported net income growth of 3,256.6% on revenue growth of 355.0% in Q2 of its 2021 fiscal year (FY), the three-month period ended July 31, 2020. The major driver of growth was an explosion of Zoom video meetings by companies and individuals as rising numbers of people have been sheltered at home during the pandemic.15

• Salesforce.com Inc.: Salesforce.com is a cloud-based software technology company that offers online solutions for customer relationship management to more than 150,000 companies.16 The company provides a cloud-based platform for customers and developers to build and run business applications, helping them to manage sales, marketing, user engagement, data analytics, and more.17 Salesforce.com reported net income growth of 2,784.6% on revenue growth of 28.9% in Q2 of its 2021 fiscal year (FY), the three-month period ended July 31, 2020. Net income especially benefitted from higher gains on strategic investments and one-time benefits from income taxes compared to the year-ago quarter.18

• Albertsons Companies Inc.: Albertsons Companies is a food and drug retailer offering various consumer staples products in 34 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.19 The company operates more than 2,200 supermarkets under 20 separate banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, and Randalls. It also operates fuel centers, in-store pharmacies, distribution centers, and 20 food and beverage plants.20 The company reported net income growth of 1,096.3% on revenue growth of 21.4% in Q1 of its 2020 fiscal year (FY), the three-month period ended June 20, 2020. Net income was positively affected by cost of sales and other expenses that, proportional to total sales, were relatively lower than the year-ago quarter. The company said that digital sales grew 276%, largely driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.21

• Berry Global Group Inc.: Berry Global Group, the product of more than 40 acquisitions over three decades, is a materials company that manufactures plastic products and containers for a broad range of industries including healthcare, agriculture and cannabis. With more than 48,000 employees, the company produces bottles, drink cups, flexible packaging, jars, lids, straws, tapes, stretch film, shrink films, tubes, and more.22 23 It operates under a number of brands, including Agribon, Chicopee, Covertan, and Verdant.24

Stocks with the Most Momentum

Momentum investing is a factor-based investing strategy in which you invest in a stock whose price has risen faster than the market as a whole. Momentum investors believe that stocks which have outperformed the market will often continue to do so, because the factors that caused them to outperform will not suddenly disappear. In addition, other investors, seeking to benefit from the stock's outperformance, will often purchase the stock, further bidding its price higher and pushing the stock higher still. These are the stocks that had the highest total return over the last 12 months.

Stocks with the Most Momentum

Price ($)Market Cap ($B)12-Month Trailing Total Return (%)

Tesla Inc. (TSLA)419.07391.2765.4

Livongo Health Inc. (LVGO)138.4514.1712.0

Zoom Video Communications Inc. (ZM)465.50132.4512.2

Immunomedics Inc. (IMMU)85.2519.7495.3

Moderna Inc. (MRNA)70.5227.8343.5

Russell 1000N/AN/A15.7

Source: YCharts

• Tesla Inc.: Tesla is the worlds' largest automaker by market value, with a market cap of about $416 billion, and is one of the world's leading maker of electric vehicles.25 It designs and manufactures fully electric vehicles, including luxury and mass market sedans and trucks. It also is a clean energy company and produces solar energy generation and energy storage products.26 Tesla posted a net profit in Q2 2020, its fourth straight quarterly profit, a major improvement after a long string of financial losses.27 The company produced more than 82,000 vehicles and delivered approximately 90,650 in Q2 2020.28

• Livongo Health Inc.: Livongo Health is a biotechnology company that operates a consumer digital health platform serving more than 410,000 members.29 The company develops applied health signals for the monitoring and treatment of chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, weight management, and a variety of behavioral health issues.30 The company announced in mid-September that, in cooperation with Teladoc Health Inc. (TDOC), it has filed a definitive joint proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding a proposed merger between the two companies. Both companies will hold respective shareholder votes on October 29, 2020. The boards of directors of each company is recommending their respective shareholders to approve the proposed merger.31

• Zoom Video Communications Inc.: See above for company description.

• Immunomedics Inc.: Immunomedics is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company with more than 400 employees with offices and facilities in the U.S and Germany, as well as a partnership with Everest Medicines in Greater China and select ASEAN nations.32 It develops and manufactures diagnostic imaging and therapeutic products used to detect and treat various forms of cancer, such as breast cancer and urothelial cancer.33 Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) announced in mid-September that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Immunomedics for approximately $21 billion. The transaction is expected to close sometime during Q4 2020.34

• Moderna Inc.: Moderna is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. It develops mRNA medicines for infectious, immuno-oncology, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases.35 The company has multiple clinical trials underway, including the Phase 3 stage of mRNA-1273, a COVID-19 vaccine candidate.36 Moderna announced in August that it will supply to the U.S. government an initial 100 million doses of mRNA-1273 to be used as a vaccine against COVID-19. As part of the agreement, the U.S. government has the option to purchase up to an additional 400 million doses of mRNA-1273 from Moderna.37 The company announced on September 22 that the Canadian government also has confirmed an order for 20 million doses of mRNA-1273.38