Visit StreetInsider.com at http://www.streetinsider.com/news.php?st=p&id=5123037 for the full story.

Below are interesting small-cap stocks on the NYSE with the best return on equity.

Below are interesting small-cap stocks on the NYSE and NASDAQ with the best return on equity.

Arbitron Inc (NYSE: ARB) has the ROE of 747.06 and the market capitalization of $593.6 million. GARP Research initiated coverage of ARB with a “buy” rating.

SolarWinds Inc (NYSE: SWI) has the ROE of 563.4 and the market capitalization of $1.25 billion. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage of SWI with an “outperform” rating.

Safe Bulkers Inc (NYSE: SB) has the ROE of 508.2 and the market capitalization of $465.5 million. Dahlman Rose upgraded SB from “hold” to “buy.”

Bare Escentuals Inc (NASDAQ: BARE) has the ROE of 408.07 and the market capitalization of $1.27 billion. Piper Jaffray upgraded BARE from “neutral” to “overweight.”

Gartner Inc (NYSE: IT) has the ROE of 303.66 and the market capitalization of $1.89 billion. JP Morgan upgraded IT from “neutral” to “overweight.”

This was the theme behind my latest stock screen. After the massive run-up, investors need to be careful that laggards were not left behind for good reason. So I screened for cheap stocks relative to their expected growth rates while requiring high return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE).[More...]

With a return on assets of nearly 18% and a raw intrinsic value of 38 a share, ARB is poised to return to the high 20s / low 30s level over the next 180 days.  That is a 70-80% gainer.

Arbitron, Inc. provides media and marketing information services in the United States and internationally.  They are a solid marketing company and their financials look good.

I am not a fan of the amount of debt they carry but it looks like debt is par for the course in the industry.  The good part is 89% of their shares are held by mutual funds and retirement plans.  For the long term, highly paid money managers expect this to make money.  I do also, with a high side in the low 50s, I would expect to see a move up to the mid 30s over the next six months.

 

We are now more or less two thirds of the way through earnings season. This seems like a good time to revisit a screen we first ran about a month ago. Using the data we generate as we scan over 7200 stocks and ETFs at Alert HQ, we assembled a screen that is composed of stocks with the following characteristics: The stock must have shown sequential quarterly growth as well as year-over-year growth in both EPS[More...]

JP Morgan is out with a significant call on Arbitron (NYSE:ARB) upgrading their rating to Overweight from Neutral with a $21 tgt. JPM believes the main overhang to the stock may be removed in coming weeks if its largest client, Clear Channel, renews its contract with the company for its smaller diary markets. Clear Channel’s contract expired in December for the non-PPM markets (they estimate this business represents approx. 5-6% of ARB revenues) and is expected to make a decision on renewal before the April ratings book is released. Potential Nielsen threat has been a significant overhang to shares. Nielsen’s surprise entry into the radio market late last year hit Arbitron’s stock hard (shares are down more[More...]