Zacks' Discount Fundamental Strength strategy highlights: Arrow Electronics, Avnet, Shoe Pavilion and Western Digital Corp

Business Wire, Feb 8, 2007

CHICAGO -- Combining strong underlying fundamentals with low valuations can lower risk and increase portfolio returns. Zacks' Discounted Fundamental Strength Profit Track strategy has generated double-digit returns for five consecutive years, including a 21.6% gain in 2005. For the first nine months of 2006, this Profit Track has returned 29.7%. Four stocks that currently have both fundamental strength and discounted valuations are Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: ARW), Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), Shoe Pavilion, Inc. (Nasdaq: SHOE) and Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC). View the entire list of stocks for the Discounted Fundamental Strength Profit Track at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2142.

Here are details about four companies currently identified by the Discounted Fundamental Strength Profit Track:

Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: ARW) offers a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a price/sales multiple of 0.33. In late October, the company announced third-quarter adjusted earnings of 71 cents per share, exceeding last year's 52 cents and beating the consensus estimate by a penny. Arrow Electronics has topped analyst estimates for the past four consecutive quarters.

Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) company, satisfies the criteria of this Profit Track with a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a price/sales multiple of 0.33. The company recently reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of 67 cents per share. The result topped the consensus estimate by 8% and outperformed the year-ago total. AVT stated that its strong quarterly performance was the result of its highly diversified revenue base and continuously improving expense productivity across both operating groups.

Shoe Pavilion, Inc. (Nasdaq: SHOE) recently announced that fourth-quarter net sales 38.7% on a year-over-over basis, while comparable store net sales advanced 8.6% over the same time period. The company said it believes that its strong fourth quarter performance was the result of matching product selection with consumer demand. SHOE has a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a price/sales multiple of 0.55.

Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) recently announced fiscal second-quarter earnings of 57 cents per share, surpassing last year's 47 cents and eclipsing analysts' expectations by 10%. The company managed to stay ahead of Wall Street estimates over the past five consecutive quarters. Western Digital's debt/equity level is 0.02 and its current ratio stands at 1.73.

Discover all the current stocks currently on the Discounted Fundamental Strength Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2143.

About Profit Tracks

What is a "Profit Track"? Each Profit Track is a successful stock picking strategy with proven results through the Bear Market of 2001-2002 and the Bull run started in 2003. On Zacks.com we have created these nine unique screens to offer investors great strategies to potentially outperform the market in the years ahead. For the first nine months of 2006, the Low Price Stocks strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of 42.7% followed by the Discounted Fundamental screen with a 29.7% return. To see all nine strategies along with philosophy, past performance and current stocks, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=1838

All the Profit Track strategies were created and backtested using the Research Wizard software from Zacks Investment Research. If you like this screening strategy, but want to narrow down the list of stocks and even improve the performance, then you should start a free trial to this powerful stock picking tool. Learn more about the Research Wizard free trial offer and our new special report "Top 10 Stock Screening Strategies" at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2156

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