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The following are today's upgrades for Validea's Low PE Investor model based on the published strategy of John Neff. This strategy looks for firms with persistent earnings growth that trade at a discount relative to their earnings growth and dividend yield.

MGP INGREDIENTS INC (MGPI) is a small-cap growth stock in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 60% to 79% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: MGP Ingredients, Inc. is a producer and supplier of distilled spirits, branded spirits, and food ingredients. The Company operates through three segments: Distilling Solutions, Branded Spirits, and Ingredient Solutions. The Distilling Solutions segment consists of food grade alcohol and distillery co-products, such as distillers feed, fuel grade alcohol, and corn oil. This segment also includes warehouse services, including barrel put away, storage, and retrieval services, as well as blending services. The Branded Spirits segment consists of a portfolio of high-quality brands, which it produces through its distilleries and bottling facilities and sell to distributors pursuant to customer contracts and purchase orders. Its Ingredient Solutions segment consists primarily of specialty wheat starches, specialty wheat proteins, commodity wheat starches, and commodity wheat proteins. It is also a producer of industrial alcohol for use in both food and non-food applications.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

Detailed Analysis of MGP INGREDIENTS INC

BASIC SANT CPY OF THE STA PUL SBSP (ADR) (SBS) is a large-cap growth stock in the Water Utilities industry. The rating according to our strategy based on John Neff changed from 60% to 79% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

Company Description: Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo SABESP is a water and sewage service provider. The Company provides water and sewage services to a range of residential, commercial, industrial and governmental customers in over 360 municipalities in the state of Sao Paulo, including the city of Sao Paulo. The Company's segments include Water and Sewage. The Company also supplies treated water on a wholesale basis to approximately 10 municipalities located in the Sao Paulo metropolitan region and urban conurbations. The Company's activities comprise water supply, sanitary sewage services, urban rainwater management and drainage services, urban cleaning services, solid waste management services and related activities, including the planning, operation, maintenance and commercialization of energy, and the commercialization of services, products, benefits and rights that directly or indirectly arise from its assets, operations and activities.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

Detailed Analysis of BASIC SANT CPY OF THE STA PUL SBSP (ADR)

About John Neff: While known as the manager with whom many top managers entrusted their own money, Neff was far from the smooth-talking, high-profile Wall Streeter you might expect. He was mild-mannered and low-key, and the same might be said of the Windsor Fund that he managed for more than three decades. In fact, Neff himself described the fund as "relatively prosaic, dull, [and] conservative." There was nothing dull about his results, however. From 1964 to 1995, Neff guided Windsor to a 13.7 percent average annual return, easily outpacing the S&P 500's 10.6 percent return during that time. That 3.1 percentage point difference is huge over time -- a $10,000 investment in Windsor (with dividends reinvested) at the start of Neff's tenure would have ended up as more than $564,000 by the time he retired, more than twice what the same investment in the S&P would have yielded (about $233,000). Considering the length of his tenure, that track record may be the best ever for a manager of such a large fund.

About Validea: Validea is aninvestment researchservice that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.