Playing with JAKKS Pacific (JAKK)

John Reese offers a fascinating advisory service, Validea, which bases its stocks picks on the time-test methods used by variour "legendary".

Regarding JAKKS Pacific (NASDAQ: JAKK), he explains, "This Malibu, Calif.-based kid's products retailer gets approval from three of my guru-based models: Kenneth Fisher, Peter Lynch, and Benjamin Graham."

"JAKKS Pacific makes an assortment of children's toys and leisure products, such as Dora the Explorer and Pokeman playsets, Plug It In & Play video games, and World Wrestling Entertainment figurines, to name just a few.

"Several of its products are also of an educational nature, helping to teach children the basics about numbers, letters, and shapes. JAKKS, which has a market cap of $651 million.

"To identify stocks that are selling at a good price, Fisher created the price-to-sales ratio (PSR). For noncyclical companies like JAKKS, my Fisher-based model considers PSRs below 0.75 to be tremendous values. JAKKS' PSR is just below that cutoff, making the grade.

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"Fisher also liked companies with little debt, so the strategy I base on his writings looks for companies with debt/equity ratios less than 40%. With a debt/equity ratio of 14.12%, JAKKS passes another test.

"Profit margins were also important to Fisher. My Fisher-based model requires companies to have average profit margins of at least five percent over the past three years. JAKKS nearly doubles that, with margins of 9.81%.

"My Lynch strategy considers JAKKS a fast-grower because of its 28.19% growth rate (based on the average of the three-, four-, and five-year EPS figures).

"To find growth stocks selling on the cheap, Lynch famously used the P/E/Growth ratio, which divides a stock's price/earnings ratio by its historic growth rate. P/E/Gs below 1.0 are acceptable, and those under 0.5 are the best case.

"With its 8.41 P/E ratio and that 28.19% growth rate, JAKKS sports a 0.3 P/E/G ratio, which falls into this model's best-case category. That indicates the growth stock is selling at a very good price.

"Lynch likes companies that have manageable debt. For non-financials, the method I base on his writings requires firms to have debt/equity ratios below 80%; at 14.12%, JAKKS makes the grade.

"Graham, meanwhile, was very concerned with the intrinsic value of a company, not the hype or speculation around it; that is, he wanted to know the real value of its business.

"One way he did this was by looking at current ratios -- the ratio of a company's current assets (its most liquid assets) to its current liabilities (those that will have to be paid back first). Graham liked current ratios of 2 or more; at 5.9, JAKKS easily passes.

"Another way Graham targeted conservative investments was by looking at debt. JAKKS has $98 million in long-term debt, but $359.2 million in net current assets, a sign that it is financially secure.

"While known as 'The Father of Value Investing', Graham did consider EPS growth. He liked companies to EPS by a total of 30% over a ten-year period without having any negative annual EPS postings in the past five years.

"These firms tend to be financially secure and have a proven record of success over time. Over the past decade, JAKKS' EPS have grown by 206%, and it has posted positive earnings in each of the past five years, passing the test.

"Graham also identified solid, defensive investments by looking at the price/earnings and price/book ratios. He liked the P/E to be no greater than 15, using the average earnings for the past three years; with a P/E of 9.6, JAKKS makes the grade.

"For the price/book ratio, Graham used an unconvential standard. He wanted the product of the P/B and the P/E to be no greater than 22. When we multiply JAKK's P/B of 0.94 by its 9.6 P/E, we get about 9.02, passing this test with flying colors."