Don’t Miss The Boat On These Growth Winners

Investors have been fickle this year. Before the New Year’s confetti had even settled, the market was in full-blown retreat, with recession-resistant safe havens holding up well and economically sensitive cyclicals bearing the brunt of the correction. Commodity stocks, for example, were clobbered. But since mid-February, market sentiment has shifted markedly toward sectors that would benefit from continued U.S. economic growth; commodities have rallied, too — a sign that investors now believe the gloomy forecasts of winter were overdone and spring may bring a rosier economic climate.

For U.S. stocks, the shift toward growth was aided by attractive valuations for many fine companies unfairly caught up in the selloff. In many cases, those stocks are no longer cheap. But a careful perusal of the growth-stock catalog reveals that some excellent companies still trade at prices that make for attractive entry points.

#-ad_banner-#One is Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK), which I recommended in early February. The stock is up about 14% since then, and not quite as cheap, but its valuation remains low enough to merit a buy for long-term investors.

Rockwell Automation remains a beneficiary of the strong growth of the global robotics market. Robots now perform about 10% of all industrial tasks, but that is expected to rise well north of 20% over the next decade. Sales of robotic components are expected to grow 10% a year over the next decade, and the company is one of the world leaders in industrial automation systems, including both hardware and software used to create robotic components. Its customers include factories and other industrial facilities, as well as specialty customers like amusement parks. Rockwell Automation is especially strong in the control systems needed to program, monitor and control automated functions.

Rockwell Automation disappointed investors with its most recent earnings report and by downgrading its revenue and earnings guidance for the rest of this fiscal year. But in recent weeks, as energy and other commodity prices have rallied, so have Rockwell’s short-term prospects, as the energy and mining industries are important customers. But regardless of what happens this year, I like Rockwell’s ability to benefit from the long-term robotics revolution. Even after its strong recent rally, the stock trades at a reasonable 19.4 times analysts’ consensus estimate for earnings per share in fiscal 2016 (ends September 2016).

Electronic Arts (NYSE: EA) may not be the hippest game maker on the block anymore, but the industry leader remains a strong performer — and its shares look attractive today.

EA is the fourth-largest game maker in the world by revenue, with more than 300 million registered users in more than 200 countries worldwide. The company is acknowledged to own some of the most innovative game studios in the world, including EA Tiburon, EA Canada, BioWare and DICE.

Long a leader in videogame console games, including its ultra-popular EA Sports titles (including Madden NFL, FIFA, NHL, NBA Live and others), EA is the #1 maker of games for the Xbox and the PlayStation 4. But as gamers move from console-based games played on TV screens to games played on PCs and increasingly mobile devices, EA has moved smoothly into the faster-growing mobile-app game market, with almost half of its revenue now coming from digital products (e.g., downloadable games for PCs and mobile apps). The company boasts more than 2 billion downloads of its mobile app games, which include Plants vs. Zombies, The Sims and other ubiquitous titles.

The benefit of selling downloadable games rather than physical discs is that they can have an online component that’s enabled, but often not fully utilized, on video-game consoles. EA can offer other games and updates to users on mobile apps seamlessly, and also bring new gamers into the fold with free versions of games.

EA’s shift toward online games also has boosted its bottom line by increasing profit margins and free cash flow, which has jumped from $105 million in fiscal 2012 to $972 million in fiscal 2015. With a strong balance sheet, improving margins and a wide portfolio of rock-solid franchises appealing to gamers across the spectrum, EA is poised for healthy growth for years to come. At recent prices, EA trades at 21.5 times analysts’ consensus estimate for earnings per share in fiscal 2017 (ends March 2017), below its long-term average price/earnings ratio. 

Risks To Consider: Rockwell Automation is vulnerable to lower-than-expected growth in energy and mining, as well as weak sales from emerging markets. Electronic Arts is susceptible to losing market share to other providers in the highly competitive gaming market and declines in consumer discretionary spending around the world.

Action To Take: Buy Rockwell Automation under $115 and Electronic Arts under $68.

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