Where Are the Highest-Quality Value Opportunities This Week?
Monday, September 21, 2026 · Johnny Hopkins
This week’s Acquirer’s Multiple® All Investable Stocks Screener highlights a broad range of potentially undervalued businesses beyond the largest and most closely followed companies.
The All Investable universe includes the Large Cap 1000 but extends further into the middle of the market-cap spectrum, where companies generally receive less analyst coverage and may be more likely to become mispriced.
This week’s screen contains 200 companies, with 83 trading below 10x Acquirer’s Multiple® and 111 trading below 12x. The median Acquirer’s Multiple across the screen is approximately 11.2x.
However, a low valuation alone does not necessarily indicate a high-quality opportunity. Some businesses are inexpensive because they face declining earnings, heavy debt, industry disruption or unusually favourable conditions that may not continue.
To identify companies offering a stronger combination of value and quality, we applied the following additional filters:
- Acquirer’s Multiple below 12x
- Five-year average return on assets above 15%
- Positive incremental growth
- Positive free-cash-flow yield
- Debt-to-equity below 50%
A total of 28 companies met all five requirements.
The qualifying group has a median Acquirer’s Multiple of approximately 8.5x, a median free-cash-flow yield of 9.1%, and a median five-year average return on assets of 18%.
Where Quality Value Is Appearing
Energy remains well represented, with qualifying businesses across integrated oil and gas, downstream energy, midstream operations and oilfield services. These companies can generate substantial cash flow, although their earnings remain sensitive to commodity prices.
Technology also contributes several candidates, particularly across semiconductor manufacturing and technology consulting. These businesses offer an alternative to the highly valued technology companies that usually attract the most investor attention.
Other qualifying opportunities appear in chemicals, machinery, healthcare, homebuilding, automotive businesses, media and professional services. This diversity shows that attractive value is not confined to one industry or investment theme.
Bottom Line
The All Investable screen currently offers a meaningful group of companies combining modest valuations, positive cash flow, strong historical returns on assets and manageable debt.
These quantitative measures do not establish that a company is a good investment. They provide a focused starting point for examining competitive advantages, earnings durability, management’s capital allocation and the risks responsible for the low valuation.
The complete ranked list, company names and underlying valuation and quality measures are available to subscribers through the Acquirer’s Multiple® All Investable Stocks Screener.
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