Where Are the Highest-Quality Value Opportunities This Week?
Thursday, October 29, 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 supplied screen contains 200 companies, with 83 trading below 10x Acquirer’s Multiple® and 109 trading below 12x. The median Acquirer’s Multiple across the screen is approximately 11.4x.
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 27 companies met all five requirements, down from 28 last week.
The qualifying group has a median Acquirer’s Multiple of approximately 8.0x, a median free-cash-flow yield of approximately 9.6%, and a median five-year average return on assets of 20.0%.
Where Quality Value Is Appearing
Energy remains well represented, with qualifying companies across integrated oil and gas, exploration and production, downstream energy, midstream operations and energy-related shipping. Equinor, APA Corporation, Gulfport Energy, BW LPG and Cheniere Energy Partners illustrate the range of opportunities in the sector. Equinor trades at just 3.7x, while APA Corporation offers an 11.5% free-cash-flow yield. These businesses can generate substantial cash flow, although their earnings remain sensitive to commodity prices, production costs and industry cycles.
Materials and mining continue to feature prominently. The qualifying group includes metal ore miners Sibanye Stillwater and Harmony Gold, alongside chemicals producers Sasol, CF Industries and SQM. Sibanye Stillwater trades at 3.1x with a 13.0% free-cash-flow yield, while Harmony Gold trades at 3.5x with a five-year average return on assets of 38%. Although these companies offer attractive historical profitability and valuations, investors should consider the sustainability of earnings through different commodity and economic environments.
Technology contributes candidates across semiconductor manufacturing and technology consulting. SK Hynix, Micron Technology and Cirrus Logic represent the semiconductor industry, while Cognizant Technology Solutions and Genpact provide exposure to technology services. Micron has a five-year average return on assets of 51%, while SK Hynix trades at 7.5x. Semiconductor cycles, AI-related infrastructure investment and corporate technology spending remain important considerations when assessing the durability of earnings.
Consumer businesses remain an important source of qualifying companies, including Lululemon, Deckers Outdoor and Crocs. Lululemon trades at 6.3x with an 11.4% free-cash-flow yield, while Deckers Outdoor has a five-year average return on assets of 32%. Their inclusion highlights opportunities beyond traditional cyclical value sectors. However, brand strength, changing consumer preferences, inventory management and margin sustainability warrant further investigation.
Healthcare is represented by Novo Nordisk, Bristol Myers Squibb and Zoetis. These companies provide exposure to pharmaceuticals, obesity and diabetes treatments, and animal health. Novo Nordisk trades at 8.1x with a five-year average return on assets of 26%, while Bristol Myers Squibb offers a 9.1% free-cash-flow yield. Investors should assess competitive positioning, product pipelines, patent protection and the durability of future earnings.
Additional qualifying companies operate in professional services, automotive parts, tobacco and machinery manufacturing. H&R Block, Stride, Gentex, Altria and Mueller Water Products add further diversity to the group, demonstrating that attractive valuation and quality characteristics are not confined to a small number of industries.
The diversity of businesses gives investors several different areas of the market to investigate rather than concentrating exclusively on the cheapest sectors.
Bottom Line
This week’s All Investable screen contains 27 companies combining modest valuations, positive free cash flow, strong historical returns on assets and debt-to-equity below 50%, compared with 28 qualifying companies last week.
The median five-year return on assets among the qualifying companies remains 20.0%, while the median Acquirer’s Multiple has declined from approximately 8.2x to 8.0x. The median free-cash-flow yield has increased from approximately 9.2% to 9.6%.
Across the broader screen, the number of companies trading below 10x has declined slightly from 84 to 83, while the number trading below 12x has fallen from 115 to 109. The overall median Acquirer’s Multiple has increased from approximately 11.1x to 11.4x.
These changes suggest that the broader screen has become modestly more expensive, even as the remaining quality-value candidates continue to offer attractive valuation and cash-flow characteristics.
Energy, materials and technology remain important sources of qualifying companies, while consumer and healthcare businesses provide opportunities to investigate value beyond commodity-sensitive industries.
Applying additional profitability, growth, cash-flow and balance-sheet requirements helps narrow the 200-company universe to a more focused group for further research.
These measures provide a starting point rather than a conclusion about any company’s investment merits. The next step is to examine earnings durability, competitive advantages, capital allocation and the risks behind each 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.
In addition to our free U.S. Large-Cap 1000 Screener, subscribers receive access to the complete All Investable, Small and Micro Cap, and Canada All TSX screens—including company rankings and valuation, free-cash-flow, shareholder-yield and quality measures.