Some stocks excite investors by talking up future growth prospects, while others point to heavily-adjusted vanity metrics.
Honing in on the data that tell us what’s really going on can save us a lot of time and pain. At Stockopedia, we read through academic studies and backtest strategies to identify these key measures. One of the most promising we have found so far is Piotroski’s F-Score - and the F-Score has good news for shareholders of large cap infrastructure investment company HICL Infrastructure (LON:HICL).
The Piotroski F-Score's secret sauce
Followers of celebrated accounting professor Joseph Piotroski are well aware of the checklist that made him famous at the turn of the millennium. Piotroski is behind the F-Score: a single number that acts as both a quality and fundamental momentum screen. In quantifying the financial trend of a company, the F-Score differentiates itself from other metrics by focusing on the direction of travel.
The F-Score is made up of nine checks split up into three main areas of financial analysis. First is profitability, where it examines operating profits and cash flow to make sure the business can sustain itself and pay dividends. Then come three checks on the capital structure of a business, followed by a final look at the firm’s operating efficiency.
HICL Infrastructure’s F-Score: what does it mean?
HICL Infrastructure gets an F-Score of 8 out of 9. In his landmark academic paper "Value Investing: The Use of Historical Financial Statement Information to Separate Winners from Losers", Piotroksi showed that by investing in companies scoring 8 or 9 by these measures over a 20-year test period through to 1996, investor returns could be increased by an astounding 7.5% each year. Here is HICL Infrastructure’s F-Score in slightly more detail:
Find more high-quality stocks
This F-Score suggests Hicl Infrastructure is a promising investment candidate and is worthy of further research - but it is only a first step. Higher F-Score stocks often trade at a premium compared to other stocks. Investors like to pay up for quality but it's important not to pay too much. We suggest checking the various value factor measures for Hicl Infrastructure on the group's StockReport.
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for information purposes only. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser. The author has no position in the stocks mentioned, unless otherwise stated.