Tilson & Heins: Look for Safer Buys in this Market

In their latest “Discovering Value” column for Kiplinger’s, Whitney Tilson and John Heins warn that investors shouldn’t give in to the temptation to swing for the fences by buying speculative stocks after the recent market plunge, but instead should focus on solid, undervalued stocks.

“Given the perilous state of the economy, this is not the time to take unnecessary risk,” write Tilson and Heins, who do a great job explaining the neuropsychology that drives investors to seek out big gainers that are too risky. “Fortunately,” they note, “plenty of stocks combine solid potential for appreciation with strong protection against further trouble.”

Using value-oriented criteria such as the ratio of enterprise value to sales (enterprise value is stock-market value plus outstanding debt, minus cash), debt levels, and cash levels, Tilson and Heins identify a couple stocks that they think are safe, strong plays right now:  Winn-Dixie (WINN) and Delia’s (DLIA).