Fastest Growing Companies – MSN
This screen is essentially the same Fastest Growing Companies screen that I ran earlier, but I ran this one using MNS Money Central Investors Finder: moneycentral.msn.com
I attempted to create the same criteria that I used in the earlier screen, but because of difference between the two screen engines, I had to use some different variables.
The original screen criteria and results can be found at: Message 14282877
Here are the criteria that I used in the original screen:
6 Month EPS Growth >= 35 6 Month EPS Growth > 1 Year EPS Growth 1 Year EPS Growth > 5 Year EPS Growth 5 Year EPS Growth >= 25 1 Year Revenue Growth > 5 Year Revenue Growth 1 Year Revenue Growth > 10 1 Year EPS Growth >= 1 Year Revenue Growth Long Term Growth Projection > Previous Long Term Growth Projection ROE >= 15 Average Relative Quarterly Performance for past 4 Quarters >= 1
On August 27, 2000, the original screen identified these companies:
Symbol Company Name Price ROE Trail P/E EPS Growth (1 Yr.) SEIC SEI Investments Co 65.50 99.0 55.2 54.8 FWRD Forward Air Corp 43.50 53.1 62.1 67.6 SUNW Sun Microsystems Inc 124.75 41.4 99.0 66.6 PLXS Plexus Corp 142.50 40.6 99.0 60.9 MLT Mitel Corp 23.38 35.3 99.0 55.9 NT Nortel Networks Corp 82.38 20.9 99.0 48.3 AHAA Alpha Industries Corp 40.13 17.6 58.2 90.4 TIF Tiffany & Co 42.06 15.5 28.1 78.4
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Here are the criteria that I used for MSN Money Central screen:
EPS Growth Qtr Vs Qtr >= 35 EPS Growth Qtr Vs Qtr >= EPS Growth Year Vs Year EPS Growth Year Vs Year >= 5-Year Earnings Growth 5-Year Earnings Growth >= 25 Rev Growth Year Vs Year >= 5-Year Revenue Growth Rev Growth Year Vs Year >= 10 EPS Growth Year Vs Year >= Rev Growth Year Vs Year Earnings Estimate Increased Since <In The Last Year> Return on Equity >= 15
This criteria differs from the original screen criteria is the following ways:  The original screen used 6 Months EPS Growth. I used Qtr Vs Qtr EPS Growth for this screen.  I did not use the 1-Year Revenue Growth >= 10, but it was not needed.  I used Earnings Estimate Increase instead of the change in Long Term Growth Projections.
On Friday, September 01, 2000, this gave me the following results:
1-YR 5-Yr 1-Yr 5-Yr EPS Earning Rev Rev Symbol Company Name Price ROE P/E EPS Growth Growth Growth Growth SNDK SanDisk Corporation 83.5 31.2 24.7 0.43 125.4 40.57 81.9 39.57 SIVB Silicon Valley Bancshares 57.63 28.4 15.2 1.23 80.6 33.96 37.2 31.97 CHCS Chico's FAS, Inc. 39 36.8 31.9 0.88 70.3 67.26 45.3 24.79 RCII Rent-A-Center, Inc. 32.94 34.5 12.3 1.74 139.5 30.28 75 71.11 MCRL Micrel, Incorporated 76.44 27.5 128.7 0.41 113.4 39.7 38.9 36.89 CDWC CDW Computer Centers, Inc. 73.5 24.5 51.4 1.11 49.1 41.77 47.7 38.38 TLGD Tollgrade Communications, Inc. 111.19 21.3 80.2 0.89 51.4 30.79 32 26.5 FWRD Forward Air Corporation 45.88 29.1 45.4 0.76 56.9 32.92 31 2.92 TIF Tiffany & Co. 41.63 22.4 35.9 0.98 61.7 29.95 25 14.68 ALTR Altera Corporation 64.81 24.8 84.7 0.54 45.1 28.43 27.9 21.95 KCP Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. 44.06 25.7 31.4 1.19 52.8 25.37 41.2 25.97
Only two companies from the first screen showed up on this screen, Forward Air Corporation (FWRD) and Tiffany & Co (TIF). I believe the reason for the difference was mostly related to changing the 6 Months EPS Growth to a Quarter vs. Quarter EPS Growth criteria. Using the Earnings Estimate Increase instead of the Long Term Growth Projections changes might have also had an effect.
I prefer the 6 Months EPS Growth rate because it covers a longer period, 6 months as opposed to 3 months. The Quarter vs. Quarter growth could be distorted by an unusually poor or good quarter.
Since I was using different screening engines, I was curious about the consistency of the data. Looking at the two companies that appeared on both screens, FWRD & TIF; there are some extreme variances between their numbers.
Obviously these screens are not getting their data from the same place. Let’s see what I find if I check Silicon Investors and E*Trade for these values.
Symbol/Criteria Market Player Money Central E*Trade Silicon Investors FWRD: Price 43.50 45.88 42.25 42.25 ROE 53.1 29.1 36.16 36.16 P/E 62.1 45.4 45.92 46.23 1-Yr EPS Growth 67.6 56.9 50.33 41.18 TIF: Price 42.06 41.63 42.31 42.31 ROE 15.5 22.4 23.94 23.94 P/E 28.1 35.9 36.48 36.54 1-Yr EPS Growth 78.4 61.7 60.17 32.96
*NOTE (this data was gathered on different days, up to one week apart)
At least E*Trade and Silicon Investors agree on the price, ROE and P/E (accounting for rounding), but look at the differences in 1-Yr EPS Growth.
Also notice that MSN Money Central and E*Trade report essentially the same figures for all criteria for TIF but slightly different ROE and 1-Yr EPS Growth for FWRD. The figures from Market Player are substantially different from figures reported from the three other sources.
Obviously the quality of the source of the screen’s data substantially affects the screen results.
B.K. |