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Sep.05
6:45 PM ET
Friday, 5 Sep 2008
S&P's New "Buy 'Em Like Buffett" Stock Screen
Posted By:Alex Crippen
Companies:ALCON INC | ASML Holding N.V. | Autodesk Inc | CR Bard Inc | Baxter International | Becton Dickinson and Co | BG Group plc | Brown Forman Corp | Canadian National Railway Company | Charles Schwab Corp | Franklin Resources Inc | Freeport-Mcmoran Copper & Gold Inc | Garmin Ltd. | Genentech, Inc. | Grupo Televisa S.A. | Halliburton Co | Infosys Technologies Limited | Intercontinental Hotels Group | Johnson and Johnson | Lam Research Corporation | McDonalds Corp | MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. | Microsoft Corp | Mobile TeleSystems | National Semiconductor Corp | S | Occidental Petroleum Corp | Oracle Corporation | Partner Communications Company Ltd. | Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corp. | Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company | QUALCOMM Inc | Research in Motion Limited | Reynolds American Inc | SAP Aktiengesellschaft Systeme, Anwendungen, Produkte | Satyam Computer Services Limited | Schlumberger Ltd | SEI Investments Company | Sigma Aldrich Corp | Stryker Corp | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited | TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation | Telefonica SA | Tenaris S.A. | T Rowe Price Group Inc | Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS | Wipro Limited | Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

iPhone
AP
Apple makes iPhones but this time around it doesn't make the list of stocks that fit some of Warren Buffett's investment criteria, as compiled by Standard and Poor's in its twice-yearly stock screen.
Twice each year, Standard and Poor's runs a stock screen, designed to find stocks that Warren Buffett might find attractive based on his general investment philosophy.

Howard Silverblatt of Standard & Poor's Equity Research writes that the screen looks for:

  • Free cash flow of at least $250 million
  • Net profit margin of at least 15%
  • At least 15% return on equity in the previous quarter and in each of the past three years
  • Dollar's worth of retained earnings creating at a dollar of shareholder value of previous five years
  • Market value at or above $500 million
  • Projected cash flow per share above current stock price over next five years

The S&P screen results carry a very important reminder: "These are not stocks that Buffett has purchased or announced plans to purchase.  They are simply stocks that meet the criteria that Buffett has emphasized in the past."

The new list is shorter than February's screen results.  Among the stocks that didn't make the cut this time around: Apple .. which didn't seem like a Buffett-style stock to begin with given his tech aversion.  Microsoft and Oracle, however, remain.

Here are the other stocks that also made the list: