Every week, Tracey Ryniec, the editor of Zacks Value Investor portfolio service, shares some of her top value investing tips and stock picks.

Happy New Year!

It’s finally 2018 and with the change in the calendar comes a chance for investors to start with a clean slate.

That means value investors can look for value stocks with no fears that they are under performing or out of favor, because not enough time has passed yet to determine that.

Running a Basic Value Stock Screen

Tracey used a basic value screen to find the value stocks this week. There’s no reason to always get fancy.

She searched for stocks that had Zacks Ranks of #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy) so that she would, presumably, get rising earnings estimates. She combined that with a P/E under 15, which is her usual level for value stocks.

It gave her a portfolio with 165 results.

As you might imagine, most of the semiconductor stocks, which continue to be cheap, such as Micron and Lam Research, were in this screen. She ignored those names because she’s already done several podcasts in 2017 on that industry.

For 2018, it had to be some new names. She also wanted a diverse group of companies.

5 Cheap Stocks to Start the Year

1.      Borg Warner BWA is a large cap company operating in engines and drive train technology. It’s a partner with the auto industry in fuel economy and emissions and is making the transition to electric cars and other alternatives. It is trading with a forward P/E of just 13.4.

2.     FS Bancorp FSBW is a tiny community bank in the Puget Sound area of Washington state. Analysts believe it has strong credit quality. Even though it’s small, it still pays a dividend currently yielding 0.8%. It has a forward P/E of 12.9.

3.     Foot Locker FL is a controversial choice even though the shares are up off the 2017 lows. Are the worst fears about them losing the Nike business over? Comps were still negative in the third quarter. But the stock is cheap, with a forward P/E of 11.5. And you get a dividend yielding 2.7%.

4.     Kelly Services KELYA specializes in temporary staffing and has a market cap of $1 billion. It recently acquired “Teachers on Call” to expand its digital talent platform. There is limited analyst coverage of this small cap which remains cheap with a forward P/E of 13.4.

5.     Ultra Petroleum UPL is a small cap E&P which specializes mostly in natural gas in the Pinedale Field in Wyoming, which is one of the top 10 natural gas fields in the United States. It recently closed on the sale of its assets in the Marcellus Shale for $115 million in cash as it tries to streamline its business. It’s ridiculously cheap, with a forward P/E of just 4.5, and it trades under $10.

As always, be sure to do your own investment research. With earnings season fast approaching, these companies will be doing conference calls. Be sure to tune in.

Additionally, Zacks.com has great earnings estimate data which is free and a great resource. Just put in the company ticker and, on then, on the left-hand side of the page, go to the “Detailed Estimates” link.

What else do you need to know about value stocks in 2018?

Tune into this week’s podcast to find out.

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It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.