Argan AGX Validea Benjamin Graham Defensive analysis

A holding company. Gemma Power Systems (GPS) is the biggest holding. It has been very busy, making a lot of money. Now there is a lull in business. The question is will GPS fid more gas-fired electric generation plants to build? See http://arganinc.com/investor-center/ On Finviz, Earnings per 

Share for the coming year are estimated at $2,84/share.

The company pays a dividend of $1 per year / $38 price per share = 3% dividend yield. Very strong balance sheet, company won't go broke anytime soon.

Detailed Validea.com Analysis of Argan, ticker AGX

SECTOR: PASS AGX is neither a technology nor financial Company, and therefore this methodology is applicable. SALES: FAIL The investor must select companies of "adequate size". This includes companies with annual sales greater than $1 billion. AGX's sales of $803.7 million, based on trailing 12 month sales, fail this test. CURRENT RATIO: PASS The current ratio must be greater than or equal to 2. Companies that meet this criterion are typically financially secure and defensive. AGX's current ratio of 2.82 passes the test. LONG-TERM DEBT IN RELATION TO NET CURRENT ASSETS: PASS For industrial companies, long-term debt must not exceed net current assets (current assets minus current liabilities). Companies that meet this criterion display one of the attributes of a financially secure organization. The long-term debt for AGX is $0.0 million, while the net current assets are $300.3 million. AGX passes this test. LONG-TERM EPS GROWTH: PASS Companies must increase their EPS by at least 30% over a ten-year period and EPS must not have been negative for any year within the last 10 years. Companies with this type of growth tend to be financially secure and have proven themselves over time. AGX's EPS growth over that period of 948.6% passes the EPS growth test. P/E RATIO: PASS The Price/Earnings (P/E) ratio, based on the greater of the current PE or the PE using average earnings over the last 3 fiscal years, must be "moderate", which this methodology states is not greater than 15. Stocks with moderate P/Es are more defensive by nature. AGX's P/E of 11.02 (using the current PE) passes this test. PRICE/BOOK RATIO: PASS The Price/Book ratio must also be reasonable. That is, the Price/Book multiplied by P/E cannot be greater than 22. AGX's Price/Book ratio is 1.68, while the P/E is 11.02. AGX passes the Price/Book test.