5 top value stocks for investors to consider

Who doesn’t love to follow Warren Buffett and his value investing approach to stock picking? I know I do and I was lucky enough to attend The Ben Graham Centre at the Ivey Business School’s 2016 Value Investing Conference this week—the must-attend event for true, diehard value stock pickers. Lots of great companies and their stocks were discussed and expert panelists gave their tips on finding value stocks. So if you love to do you own analysis before making picks for your own investment portfolio, here are a few stocks that the who’s who of value investing are talking about in no particular order:

Progressive Corp (NYSE: PGR, $34.76 U.S.*) — This U.S. insurance company has been around since 1937 and has been both innovative and creative and is a leader in non-standard auto insurance who also wants to be a competitor in standard insurance. An industry leader, along with GEICO, who has a competitive advantage in their core business—auto insurance. Even with the new driverless cars and changes to come with auto insurance, Progressive is one of the few in the industry who will survive and prosper.

Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings (NYSE: CCO, $4.41 U.S.) — One of world’s largest outdoor advertising company, providing advertisers with space on billboards, street furniture displays, and transit displays in 50 countries across six continents. And the company keeps evolving with new technology. Earlier this year it started a new program called Radar that will use billboards to map real-world habits and behaviors from nearby consumers.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST, $151.81 U.S.) — You’ve definitely heard of this one! A membership-only warehouse club that provides a wide selection of merchandise. Its huge strength is its corporate culture. The better people and corporate culture a company has, the bigger the chance they’ll be winners on the balance sheet as well. Costco along with Fastenal (NASDAQ: FAST, $45.82 U.S.), which operates in the home improvement stores sector, offers a strong 2.6% dividend yield and is socially and environmentally responsible.

Albemarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB: $65.24 U.S.) — An engineered specialty chemicals company active in the lithium battery power business. This company will be meeting the growing demand of the energy storage market, which will likely increase as electric cars become popular.

SYSCO Corp. (NYSE: SYY, $47.10 U.S.) — This company markets and distributes food products to restaurants, hotels and hospitals. It’s the dominant company in the industry and dividends are increasing and—even though valuations are high—investors still see a lot of value here.

Remember, these are simply stocks that the bigwigs have on their radar. They’re not suggestions to buy, so make sure to do your own research!

*Stock values as of market close April 13, 2016