Zacks' High Rank Value strategy highlights: Colony Bankcorp, First United Corporation, Hercules Technology Growth Capital and Olin Corp

Business Wire, Sept 20, 2007

CHICAGO -- Many value investors look for stocks trading at Price/Earnings multiples below 15 and Price/Book multiples below 3. Combining these valuation measures with a Zacks Rank of #1 ("Strong Buy") or #2 ("Buy") helps to ensure that a stock is truly undervalued. The High Rank Value Profit Track strategy finds such bargains - bargains that generated returns of exceeding the S&P 500 in 2006. Four stocks meeting this strategy's exclusive criteria are Colony Bankcorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBAN), First United Corporation (Nasdaq: FUNC), Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (Nasdaq: HTGC) and Olin Corp. (NYSE: OLN). View the entire list of stocks for the High Rank Value Profit Track at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2136.

Here are details about four companies currently identified by the High Rank Value Profit Track:

Colony Bankcorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: CBAN) posted second-quarter results in mid-July. Earnings per share totaled 38 cents, beating the year-prior 36 cents and exceeding the consensus estimate by 3%. The company's total assets increased by 2.96% on a year-over-year basis. Colony Bankcorp satisfies the criteria for this Profit Track as evidenced by its price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 11.81 and a price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 1.56.

First United Corporation (Nasdaq: FUNC) recently declared a dividend of $0.195 per share. The dividend will be payable on November 1, 2007 to shareholders of record as of October 15, 2007. In early August, the company reported second-quarter earnings of 52 cents per share, surpassing last year's 50 cents and topping the consensus estimate by 8%. FUNC offers a price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 1.28 and a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 9.61.

Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (Nasdaq: HTGC) announced record second-quarter results in early August and declared its eighth dividend since inception of 30 cents per share. The company stated that it not only achieved record commitments, funding and earnings, but it also greatly expanded its capital base to support continued investment momentum in promising life sciences and technology companies. HTGC has a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 12.88 and a price-to-book (P/B) multiple that stands at 0.76.

Olin Corp. (NYSE: OLN), a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) company, boasts a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 13.6 and a price-to-book (P/B) multiple of 2.54. The company released second-quarter earnings of 48 cents per share in late July. The result topped the year-prior 45 cents. Olin Corp also declared a dividend of 20 cents per share, the company's 323rd consecutive dividend.

Discover all the current stocks currently on the High Rank Value Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2137.

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. During 2006, the Low Price Stocks strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of 56.5% followed by the Discounted Fundamental screen with a 34% return. To see all nine strategies along with philosophy, past performance and current stocks, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=1838

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