Where Are the Highest-Quality Value Opportunities This Week?
Monday, October 12, 2026 · Johnny Hopkins
This week’s Acquirer’s Multiple® All Investable Stocks Screener highlights a broad range of potentially undervalued businesses beyond the largest and most closely followed companies.
The All Investable universe includes the Large Cap 1000 but extends further into the middle of the market-cap spectrum, where companies generally receive less analyst coverage and may be more likely to become mispriced.
This week’s supplied screen contains 198 companies, with 85 trading below 10x Acquirer’s Multiple® and 115 trading below 12x. The median Acquirer’s Multiple across the screen is approximately 10.8x.
A low valuation alone does not necessarily indicate a high-quality opportunity. Some businesses are inexpensive because they face declining earnings, heavy debt, industry disruption or unusually favourable conditions that may not continue.
To identify companies offering a stronger combination of value and quality, we applied the following additional filters:
- Acquirer’s Multiple below 12x
- Five-year average return on assets above 15%
- Positive incremental growth
- Positive free-cash-flow yield
- Debt-to-equity below 50%
A total of 31 companies met all five requirements.
The qualifying group has a median Acquirer’s Multiple of approximately 8.2x, a median free-cash-flow yield of approximately 9.5%, and a median five-year average return on assets of 20.0%.
Where Quality Value Is Appearing
Energy remains well represented, with qualifying companies across integrated oil and gas, exploration and production, downstream energy, midstream operations and oilfield services. These businesses can generate substantial cash flow, although their earnings remain sensitive to commodity prices and industry cycles.
Materials and mining also feature prominently. The qualifying group includes metal ore miners and specialty chemicals producers. While several companies offer attractive valuations and strong historical profitability, investors should consider the sustainability of earnings through different commodity and economic environments.
Technology contributes candidates across semiconductor manufacturing and technology consulting. These businesses offer exposure to different sources of demand, from semiconductor markets to corporate technology spending, although competitive pressures and changing investment cycles remain important considerations.
Consumer businesses are particularly well represented this week, with qualifying companies across apparel, footwear, accessories and food retail. Their inclusion highlights opportunities outside traditional cyclical value sectors, although brand strength, consumer spending and margin sustainability warrant further investigation.
Healthcare is represented by biopharmaceutical and other healthcare businesses, while additional qualifying companies operate in professional services, media, automotive parts, tobacco, machinery and leisure goods.
The diversity of industries gives investors several different areas of the market to investigate rather than concentrating exclusively on the cheapest sectors.
Bottom Line
This week’s All Investable screen contains 31 companies combining modest valuations, positive free cash flow, strong historical returns on assets and debt-to-equity below 50%.
The median five-year return on assets among the qualifying companies is 20.0%, while the median Acquirer’s Multiple is approximately 8.2x.
With 85 of the 198 companies trading below 10x, the broader screen continues to offer a substantial pool of potentially undervalued businesses. Applying additional profitability, growth, cash-flow and balance-sheet requirements helps narrow that universe to a more focused group for further research.
These measures provide a starting point rather than a conclusion about any company’s investment merits. The next step is to examine earnings durability, competitive advantages, capital allocation and the risks behind each valuation.
The complete ranked list, company names and underlying valuation and quality measures are available to subscribers through the Acquirer’s Multiple® All Investable Stocks Screener.
In addition to our free U.S. Large-Cap 1000 Screener, subscribers receive access to the complete All Investable, Small and Micro Cap, and Canada All TSX screens—including company rankings and valuation, free-cash-flow, shareholder-yield and quality measures.