Investors look for ‘cheap’ stocks

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NEW YORK- As US stocks hit record highs, some investors are betting the market’s future gains will be increasingly driven by some of its lesser-loved companies.

Value stocks – shares of economically sensitive companies trading at multiples that are usually below those found on growth names – have been among the laggards in the market’s blistering rally from its March lows.

Some investors believe the relative cheapness of value stocks, which include energy companies, banks and industrial conglomerates, will catapult them to leadership if the nascent US economic revival gains momentum, shifting focus from the big technology-related stocks that have led markets during the coronavirus pandemic.

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The Russell 1000 Value index trades at almost 18 times earnings, up from 14 a year ago, and is up some 45 percent since late March. By comparison, the Russell 1000 Growth index trades at a multiple of 31, up from 22, and has gained over 70 percent in the same period.

“It’s an important part of validating the market’s rise, to have cyclicals and value sectors move,” said Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research.

“At the end of the day I think value can outperform, but it’s going to be very episodic.”
Hopes of economic healing got a second wind when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome

Powell rolled out a sweeping policy rewrite that puts more focus on fighting unemployment than controlling inflation, sending shares of banks like Wells Fargo and Citigroup higher on the day.

Investors in the coming week will be keeping a close eye on Friday’s US non-farm payrolls data, looking for a snapshot of how the country’s economic recovery is faring.

Other arguments for a value resurgence have been fueled by signs of progress on a vaccine against COVID-19, which some investors believe could accelerate business reopenings and a return to in-person schooling across the United States.

US President Donald Trump has said a vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be available before the Nov. 3 presidential election, sooner than most experts anticipate.

Some analysts, including those at Goldman Sachs, believe a vaccine could be approved as early as the end of this year.

That could take the S&P 500 as high as 3,700 by year-end and spur a rotation to value names, especially if the news flow regarding a vaccine continues to be encouraging, Goldman’s analysts said earlier this month. The index recently hovered near 3,500.

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