Three niche leaders for aggressive investors

Article Excerpt

Concerns over high interest rates and their impact on loan demand and writeoffs have hindered the shares of the big banks. That’s partly why we recommend investors diversify their holdings with non-bank companies that serve niche segments of the finance industry. The three stocks below fit that description. While Broadridge and Fair Isaac are close to their all-time highs, T. Rowe Price is at a 52-week low. Even so, we still see all three as buys for aggressive investors. BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS INC. $170 is a buy. The company (New York symbol BR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 118.1 million; Market cap: $20.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.broadridge.com) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing, and transaction clearing. Broadridge is best known for processing and distributing proxies and regulatory filings for nearly every publicly traded U.S. company and mutual fund, both electronically and by surface mail. The company also has other businesses providing software…