We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best Stocks to Buy According to Navellier & Associates. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) stands against the other stocks approved by Navellier & Associates.

Founded in 1987 by growth analyst Louis Navellier, Navellier & Associates is an independent firm based in Reno, Nevada. Navellier & Associates specializes in identifying market inefficiencies to find top-growth stocks through a disciplined quantitative and fundamental analysis system. With over 30 years of experience, they offer customized portfolio strategies for individual investors to maximize returns while managing risk. Unlike competitors who mimic indexes, Navellier aims to outperform them, resulting in low correlation with benchmarks and increased diversification.

Louis Navellier is the Founder, Chairman of the Board, Chief Investment Officer, and Chief Compliance Officer of Navellier & Associates, Inc. With decades of experience applying academic techniques to real market scenarios, he advocates for disciplined quantitative analysis to identify stocks that can outperform the market. His approach involves a rigorous three-step process: quantitative analysis, fundamental analysis, and optimization of selected securities for portfolio inclusion. This approach has been used by the firm where they employ a highly disciplined, bottom-up stock-selection process for most portfolios. First, they screen market and stock statistics to measure reward (alpha) and risk (standard deviation), selecting stocks in the top percentiles. Next, they further screen the top-ranked stocks for high-profit margins, strong earnings growth, and reasonable price/earnings ratios based on future earnings. Finally, a proprietary optimization model maximizes portfolio alpha while minimizing standard deviation, creating well-diversified portfolios across various sectors and industries.

Since 1980, he has shared his insights through the MPT Review, a stock advisory newsletter. Since 1987, he has actively managed individual portfolios, mutual funds, and institutional portfolios. Known for his charismatic leadership, Louis Navellier has been featured extensively in international media, including CNBC, Bloomberg, The Nightly Business Report, and Wall Street Week. His insights have also been highlighted in Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, Investor’s Business Daily, Money, Smart Money, and The Wall Street Journal. He has been profiled in books such as Kenneth A. Stern’s “Secrets of the Investment All-Stars” and Alan R. Ackerman’s “Investing Under Fire.” Mr. Navellier earned his B.S. in business administration in 1978 and his M.B.A. in finance in 1979 from California State University – Hayward.

Navellier & Associates is a well-known advisory firm with 1,314 clients and manages assets worth $743,578,818, as reported in their Form ADV from March 2024. Their Q1 2024 filing shows they handle $811,568,534 in securities, with the top 10 holdings making up 29.01% of the total.

Our Methodology

This article covers Navellier & Associates’ top 10 stock picks for the first quarter of 2024. We’ve included analyst ratings and key details about these companies, along with the number of hedge funds investing in each. Why focus on hedge fund investments? Our research indicates that copying the top picks of leading hedge funds can result in better-than-market returns. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy, which chooses 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks each quarter, has achieved a 275% return since May 2014, outperforming the benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here).

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX)

Navellier & Associates’ Stake Value: $13,550,563

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 35

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), an American energy company in Houston, Texas, ranked 29th on the Fortune 500 and 74th on the Fortune Global 500 in 2022, with over $115 billion in revenue. Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) has 12 refineries that process 1.8 million barrels of oil daily. In 2023, they started converting their Rodeo, California facility to produce renewable diesel. Their midstream segment handles transportation and NGL processing, with DCP Midstream managing 600,000 barrels per day and 22,000 miles of pipelines.

Several analysts have given positive ratings for Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) and increased their price targets. For example, JP Morgan raised its target to $167, and Goldman Sachs set theirs at $174, showing strong confidence in Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX)’s future. The average 12-month price target among analysts has also gone up, indicating optimism about Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX)’s outlook.

Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) landed on the 10th spot of Navellier & Associates’ top 10 stock picks. At the end of the first quarter of 2024, Navellier & Associates owned 82,959 shares of Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), valued at $13,550,563. This investment made up 1.66% of Navellier & Associates’ portfolio, according to regulatory filings.

Aristotle Capital’s Value Equity Strategy stated the following regarding Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:

“During the quarter, we sold our positions in Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) and Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY) and invested in two new positions: Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) and TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE).

We first purchased Phillips 66, the energy manufacturing and logistics company, in the third quarter of 2012. During our over decade-long ownership period, the company transformed itself from a predominately refining operation to a significantly more diversified energy business. In 2012, refining represented nearly 75% of earnings, and today it is less than half. With the expansion of other businesses, including midstream which is underpinned by long-term fee-based contracts, as well as chemicals and marketing, we believe Phillips 66 has reduced its cyclicality while enhancing FREE cash flow generation, supporting increased returns to shareholders. In addition, the company has started to position itself for the energy transition and remains on track to convert its San Francisco refinery into one of the world’s largest renewable fuels facilities. While we continue to believe Phillips 66 is a high-quality company on the path to further improvement, we decided to sell our shares to fund the purchase of what we consider a more suitable and attractive investment in TotalEnergies.”

Overall PSX ranks 10th on our list of the best stocks to buy according to Navellier & Associates. You can visit 10 Best Stocks to Buy According to Navellier & Associates to see the other Navellier & Associates-approved stocks that are on hedge funds’ radar. While we acknowledge the potential of PSX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than PSX but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion “Opportunity” for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These 10 Stocks in June.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.