"While U.S. banks have struggled amid the credit and housing crises, Credicorp (NYSE: BAP) has excelled," notes John Reese, who assesses stocks based on the strategies of well-known and time-tested gurus.

Here, the editor of Validea looks at the Peru-based banking firm commerical banker and explains how it "passes the test" for Peter Lynch, Marty Zweig, the Motley Fools, and William O'Neill.

"Credicorp's main subsidiary, Banco de Credito del Peru, actually grew its mortgage business 8.2% in the third quarter of 2007 (the most recent quarter for which data is available) as Peruvians' purchasing power continued to increase.

"My Peter Lynch-based strategy considers Credicorp a 'fast-grower' because of its 42.44% growth rate (based on the average of the three-, four-, and five-year earnings per share figures).

"Lynch famously used the P/E/Growth ratio to identify growth stocks selling on the cheap. By dividing Credicorp's 19.6 P/E ratio by that growth rate, we get a P/E/G of 0.46, which falls into my Lynch-based model's best-case category (below 0.5).

"Credicorp also gets approval from my Martin Zweig-based strategy, in large part because of its stellar earnings. Zweig targeted companies whose EPS have increased in each of the past five years, and over the past half-decade Credicorp has posted EPS of $0.57, $1.06, $1.70, $2.44 and $3.03, passing the test.

"Zweig didn't just like earnings to be increasing, though; he also wanted the rate of those increases to be accelerating. While Credicorp's historical growth rate is a strong 42.44% , its growth rate for the current quarter is an even-better 76.56%, a sign of earnings acceleration.

"Another reason my Zweig model is high on Credicorp: Its sales growth is also accelerating. Last quarter, the firm's sales grew at a 25.4% rate (compared to the year-ago quarter); this quarter, they are growing at 31.9%.

"Another model that is high on Credicorp is the growth strategy that I base on the writings of The Motley Fool's Tom and David Gardner. My Fool-based model likes Credicorp's 0.46 P/E/G, which falls into its best-case category, and the company's excellent profit margin (26.74%), which almost quadruples this method's 7% target.

"Another Fool-based criterion: insider holdings. This model requires insiders to own at least 10% of a company's outstanding shares, because high insider ownership indicates that insiders are confident that the company will do well. At 61.12%, Credicorp easily passes this test.

"Finally, Credicorp's strong recent performance has impressed the momentum strategy that I base on the writings of William O'Neil.

"O'Neil liked stocks whose relative strength -- the measure of how well they've performed in the past 12 months -- were at least 80, and preferably above 90; Credicorp's relative strength is 92, meaning it has outperformed 92% of all other stocks in the past year, passing this test.

"Another reason it scores high on this model: The stock's price ($78.57) is within 15% of its 52-week high, which O'Neil saw as a sign that a stock could be ready to break out to a new high."