The market has had a great run so far this year, up over 16% since the end of 2012. Still, I think that you could buy these three stocks without overpaying for a good company.
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE)
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) needs practically no introduction. If you’ve watched a basketball game, gone running, or simply walked down the street, you have seen the ubiquitous Nike “Swoosh.”
The company’s gross profit margin is 43.5%, which is in line with the industry average of 43%. Its profit margin is 9.22%, which is alsoin line with the industry average of 8.9%.
Nike has an excellent management team and the company’s shareholders have been treated well. Nike has a return on equity of over 21%, which far outpaces the industry average of just 1%. This means that Nike’s management team is very effective at deploying available capital.
The company has also done an excellent job of improving its inventory levels in China, as inventory was only up 3% year-over-year, while it was up 8% year-over-year globally. NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) has been working hard to reduce inventory through sales and taking back inventory to sell through its outlet stores. It has also been limiting the amount of new products it ships to China, which will likely dampen revenues in the short run but will ultimately be good for the company.
Nike is not just the footwear company that Phil Knight started out of the back of his car. It has now grown into a global sports and lifestyle brand. SportScanINFO data indicates that NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) basketball footwear momentum accelerated through holiday, increasing +40.3% at retail in the last four weeks with average selling prices up high-single digit percentages. In addition to the Nike basketball momentum, Nike golf has signed Rory Mcllroy to a long-term deal reportedly worth $20 million a year. I believe this is an excellent move for Nike, as the company now has both Tiger Woods and Rory under contract. The signing of Mcllroy gives them exposure to much of Europe, Mcllroy’s homeland and where he still plays often, and to a younger breed of golfers who idolize the current no. 1 golfer in the world. Nike also is now the apparel provider for the NFL, a move that could expose it to an older demographic that might not have been interested in its products beforehand.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT)
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT) is another company that is fairly ubiquitous. Chances are good that many of the cars you drove by on your drive home today have Goodyear tires. Goodyear nearly had to file bankruptcy in 2004, and many analysts believed that The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT) was going bust again in 2012. The company has proved resilient, however, and has focused on improving its North American margins by implementing initiatives to save costs. Margins have been steadily improving since 2010 when they were 0.2%, up to the current levels of 3%. Goodyear hopes to increase its North American margins to 5% over the next several years.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT) gets 43% of its revenues from North America, 35% from Europe/Africa/Middle East, and 11% from Asia. Plant utilization has also increased from 70% to 92% over the past several years. This represents a good trend while still giving the company some room to continue growing without having to expand by building new factories. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT) says that its North American business has been the hardest to improve, but the company now expects to meet its target earnings one year ahead of schedule.
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is yet another company that you probably see everyday, whether it’s the gas station where you fill up or one of its tankers while driving on your daily commute. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is a very diverse company despite often being viewed as a pure gas play. It has three main business lines, each of which operate in a somewhat separate field. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) has an upstream business line that explores for and extracts crude oil and natural gas, a downstream line that refines crude oil into marketable products such as petroleum, gasoline, kerosene, and fuel oil, and a petrochemical line that produces petroleum-derivative chemical products like ink and paint.
Exxon is also in a great state financially, having rebounded quite nicely from the 2008 recession.
These four financial metrics are all you really need to see how good management is. Its ROE is excellent, profit margins are improving, and with a management that is a proven dividend grower, I think that Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) certainly deserves a place in your portfolio.
As you can see, these are all pretty common names. What they are not, however, is overvalued. They are simply excellent companies that have consistently done an excellent job of returning value to shareholders. Happy investing!
Christopher Drose has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Nike. The Motley Fool owns shares of Nike.
The article 3 Stocks to Buy This Summer originally appeared on Fool.com.
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