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6 Strong Growth, Low Debt Financial Stocks

Given all of the recent volatility in the financial industry, it is not surprising that many companies have accrued debt to stay alive. But not all financial companies have taken on debt and that was our focus today. To find healthy financial stocks, we looked specifically for those with impressive EPS growth projections for the next year and minimal debt. When a company is relatively debt free, it has more freedom to pursue tactics that enhance growth. We put these ideas together and developed an intriguing list of financial stocks for your consideration.

EPS growth (earnings per share growth) illustrates the growth of earnings per share over time. The 1-Year Expected EPS growth rate is an annual growth estimate, where the growth projections are made by analysts, the company or other credible sources.

The long-term debt/equity ratio is a variation of the traditional debt-to-equity ratio; this value computes the proportion of a company's long-term debt compared to its available capital. By using this ratio, investors can identify the amount of leverage utilized by a specific company and compare it to others to help analyze the company's risk exposure. Generally, companies that finance a greater portion of their capital via debt are considered riskier than those with lower leverage ratios.

The debt/equity ratio illustrates how aggressively a company is financing its growth via debt. The more debt financing that is used in a capital structure, the more volatile earnings can become due to the additional interest expense. Should a company's potentially enhanced earnings fail to exceed the cost associated with debt financing over time, this can lead the company toward substantial trouble.

We first looked for financial stocks. Then we looked for businesses with projected high growth, measured by 1-year projected EPS growth above 25%. Next, we screened for businesses that have maintained a sound long term capital structure (Long Term D/E Ratio<.1). We then screened for businesses that have maintained a sound capital structure (D/E Ratio<.1). We did not screen out any market caps.

Do you think these stocks should be priced higher? Use this list as a starting-off point for your own analysis.

1) First Bancorp (FBNC)

Sector	Financial
Industry	Regional - Mid-Atlantic Banks
Market Cap	$159.78M
Beta	0.89

Key Metrics

1-Year Projected Earnings Per Share Growth Rate	2100.00%
Long Term Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Short Interest	2.93%

First Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for First Bank that provides various banking services to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. It offers deposit products, such as checking, savings, NOW, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits, including certificates of deposits and individual retirement accounts. The company also provides loans for various consumer and commercial purposes comprising loans for business, agriculture, real estate, personal uses, home improvement, and automobiles. In addition, it offers credit cards, debit cards, letters of credit, and safe deposit box rental services, as well as electronic funds transfer services, consisting of wire transfers.

Further, the company provides Internet banking, mobile banking, cash management, and bank-by-phone capabilities, as well as access to approximately 67,000 automated teller machines. Additionally, it engages in the placement of property and casualty insurance products. As of May 22, 2012, the company operated 97 branches, including 82 branches in North Carolina, 9 branches in South Carolina, and 6 branches in Virginia, as well as 1 loan production office in Blacksburg, Virginia. First Bancorp was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Troy, North Carolina.

2) TFS Financial Corp (TFSL)

Sector	Financial
Industry	Regional - Midwest Banks
Market Cap	$2.64B
Beta	0.45

Key Metrics

1-Year Projected Earnings Per Share Growth Rate	250.00%
Long Term Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Short Interest	1.20%

TFS Financial Corporation operates as a holding company for Third Federal Savings and Loan Association of Cleveland. The company provides retail consumer banking, including mortgage lending, deposit gathering, and other financial services in Ohio and Florida. Its deposit accounts consist of savings accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, certificates of deposit accounts, individual retirement accounts, and other qualified plan accounts. The company also offers residential real estate mortgage loans, home equity loans, lines of credit, residential construction loans, and consumer loans. It operates 39 full-service branches and 8 loan production offices. TFS Financial Corporation, through its subsidiary, Third Capital, Inc. engages in net lease transactions of commercial buildings; maintains minority investments in private equity funds, and provide escrow and settlement services; and reinsures private mortgage insurance on residential mortgage loans. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

3) Cascade Bancorp (CACB)

Sector	Financial
Industry	Regional - Pacific Banks
Market Cap	$229.45M
Beta	1.67

Key Metrics

1-Year Projected Earnings Per Share Growth Rate	341.67%
Long Term Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Short Interest	1.04%

Cascade Bancorp operates as the holding company for Bank of the Cascades that offers a range of commercial and retail banking services. The company's deposit products include checking, money market, time deposit, and savings accounts. Its loan portfolio comprises commercial real estate loans, real estate construction and development loans, commercial and industrial loans, and residential mortgage loans, as well as consumer installment, line-of-credit, credit cards, and home equity loans. The company also provides investment and trust related services, cash management services, Internet banking, automated teller machines, safe deposit facilities, electronic bill payment, and remote deposit services. As of May 4, 2012, Cascade Bancorp operated 32 branches in central Oregon, southern Oregon, Portland/Salem, and Boise/Treasure Valley. It serves small to medium-sized businesses, municipalities and public organizations, and professional and consumer relationships. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Bend, Oregon.

4) BankFinancial Corp. (BFIN)

Sector	Financial
Industry	Savings & Loans
Market Cap	$161.61M
Beta	0.85

Key Metrics

1-Year Projected Earnings Per Share Growth Rate	4400.00%
Long Term Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Debt/Equity Ratio	0.05
Short Interest	3.72%

BankFinancial Corporation operates as the holding company for BankFinancial, F.S.B. that provides commercial, family, and personal banking services primarily in Illinois. Its deposit accounts consist of savings accounts, NOW accounts, checking accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and IRAs, and other qualified plan accounts. The company offers investment and business loans, such as multi-family, nonresidential real estate, commercial, construction and land loans, and commercial leases, as well as one-to-four family residential mortgage loans comprising home equity loans, and lines of credit.

It also provides various financial products and services, including cash management, funds transfers, bill payment and other online banking transactions, automated teller machines, and safe deposit boxes. In addition, the company offers wealth management services comprising investment, financial planning, and other wealth management services; and sells life insurance, property and casualty insurance, and other insurance products on an agency basis. As of March 29, 2012, it operated 20 full-service banking offices located in Cook, DuPage, Lake, and Will Counties, Illinois. The company was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Burr Ridge, Illinois.

5) First Pactrust Bancorp Inc. (BANC)

Sector	Financial
Industry	Regional - Pacific Banks
Market Cap	$129.55M
Beta	1.28

Key Metrics

1-Year Projected Earnings Per Share Growth Rate	216.67%
Long Term Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Short Interest	5.12%

First PacTrust Bancorp, Inc. operates as a holding company for Pacific Trust Bank that provides retail banking services. The company offers various deposit accounts, such as savings accounts, money market deposits, NOW and demand accounts, certificates of deposits, and checking accounts to individuals and businesses. Its loan portfolio comprises one-to four-family residential real estate, green account loans, commercial and multi-family real estate, construction lending and land loans, and commercial business loans. In addition, the company offers consumer and other real estate loans, including unsecured loans; and various secured consumer loans, such as second trust deed home equity loans and home equity lines of credit, as well as loans secured by savings deposits. As of July 2, 2012, it operated 18 banking offices, primarily serving San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties in California. First PacTrust Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

6) Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (ACRE)

Sector	Financial
Industry	REIT - Diversified
Market Cap	$151.75M
Beta	-

Key Metrics

1-Year Projected Earnings Per Share Growth Rate	387.90%
Long Term Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Short Interest	3.88%

Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation, a specialty finance company, operates as a real estate investment trust. It originates, invests in, and manages middle-market commercial real estate loans and other commercial real estate investments. The company also provides financing solutions for middle market borrowers. Its product offerings include senior loans, stretch senior loans, transitional senior loans, and subordinate debt. In addition, the company undertakes various transaction types, including acquisition, recapitalization, restructuring, and general refinancing. It intends to elect to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. Ares Commercial Real Estate Management LLC operates as the manager of the company. Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

*Company profiles were sourced from Google Finance and Yahoo Finance. Financial data was sourced from Finviz on August 23, 2012.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Business relationship disclosure: This article was prepared for ZetaKap Media by one of our full-time analysts. We did not receive compensation for this article (other than from Seeking Alpha), and we have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

4 High-Profit, Low-Debt Internet Stocks

While some investors consider Internet stocks too risky or over-hyped, it is still an interesting category to follow, especially because many of these companies have become integrated into our lives and have developed into solid and well run businesses. With this in mind, we looked for Internet stocks with the following traits: minimal debt and strong profits. This is a combination that typically points to a company that has effective management in place and is not hindered by paying off debt which creates a clear path for growth and innovation. We think you will be intrigued by what we found.

The Operating Profit Margin is a profitability ratio that measures the effectiveness of the company's operating efficiency. This metric allows investors to see how much profit is left after all variable costs are covered. If the company's margin is increasing over time, this means that it's earning more per dollar of sales. Finding trends in the Operating Profit Margin helps investors identify companies that are improving profitability over time and managing the economic landscape better than competitors.

EPS growth (earnings per share growth) illustrates the growth of earnings per share over time. EPS growth rates help investors identify stocks that are increasing or decreasing in profitability. This profitability metric is generally a key driver in the price of the stock as it directly correlates to the profitability of the company as a whole.

The Debt/Equity Ratio illustrates how aggressively a company is financing its growth via debt. The more debt financing that is used in a capital structure, the more volatile earnings can become due to the additional interest expense. Should a company's potentially enhanced earnings fail to exceed the cost associated with debt financing over time, this can lead the company toward substantial trouble.

We first looked for Internet stocks. We then screened for businesses with strong profit margins (1-year operating margin>15%)(1-year fiscal EPS Growth Rate>10%). From here, we then looked for companies that have maintained a sound capital structure (D/E Ratio<0.1). We did not screen out any market caps.

Do you think these stocks have strong enough fundamentals to move higher? Use our screened list as a starting point for your own analysis.

1) Ancestry.com Inc. (ACOM)

Sector	Technology
Industry	Internet Information Providers
Market Cap	$1.34B
Beta	-

Key Metrics

Operating Profit Margin	23.98%
Earnings Per Share Growth Rate	70.90%
Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Short Interest	17.37%

Ancestry.com Inc. operates as an online family history resource for subscribers worldwide. The company's subscribers use Web-based services and content collection to research their family histories, build their family trees, collaborate with other subscribers, upload their own records, and publish and share their stories. Its subscribers can search through its collection of various records that cover birth records, marriage and death records, census records, immigration documents, photographs, maps, military records, personal narratives, and newspapers. As of December 31, 2011, the company had 1.7 million paying subscribers. Ancestry.com Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Provo, Utah.

2) OpenTable, Inc. (OPEN)

Sector	Technology
Industry	Internet Information Providers
Market Cap	$988.98M
Beta	-

Key Metrics

Operating Profit Margin	21.84%
Earnings Per Share Growth Rate	51.12%
Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Short Interest	40.02%

OpenTable, Inc. provides restaurant reservation solutions in the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. It offers solutions that form an online network connecting reservation-taking restaurants and people who dine at those restaurants. The company provides electronic reservation book (ERB) that combines proprietary software and computer hardware to deliver a solution, which computerizes restaurant host-stand operations. The ERB streamlines and enhances various functions and processes for restaurants, including reservation management, table management, guest recognition, and email marketing. The company also operates opentable.com, a restaurant reservation Website that enables diners to find, choose, and book tables at restaurants on the OpenTable network in real time. In addition, it offers Connect, a Web-based service that enables restaurants to accept online reservations from the OpenTable network, as well as through its mobile applications and restaurants' Websites. Further, the company provides POP program, which lets restaurants offer diners bonus Dining Reward Points for reservations at select times; and telephone reservation management services for restaurants. Additionally, it operates toptable.com, a restaurant reservation site; designs, builds, and operates the OTRestaurant Website, which serves as an information and services portal for its restaurant customers; and offers versions of the OpenTable Websites for use on mobile devices, as well as free mobile applications. OpenTable, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

3) Google Inc. (GOOG)

Sector	Technology
Industry	Internet Information Providers
Market Cap	$221.33B
Beta	1.09

Key Metrics

Operating Profit Margin	30.48%
Earnings Per Share Growth Rate	13.10%
Debt/Equity Ratio	0.10
Short Interest	1.50%

Google Inc., a technology company, maintains an index of Web sites and other online content for users, advertisers, and Google network members and other content providers. It offers AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense program, which enables Web sites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers; Google Display, a display advertising network that comprises the videos, text, images, and other interactive ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space; and YouTube that provides video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers. The company also provides Google Mobile that optimizes Google's applications for mobile devices in browser and downloadable form, as well as enables advertisers to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices; and Google Local that provides local information on the Web. In addition, it offers Android, an open source mobile software platform; Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system; Google Chrome, a Web browser; Google+ to share different things online with different people; Google TV, a platform for the consumers to use the television and the Internet on a single screen; and Google Books platform to discover, search, and consume content from printed books online. Further, the company provides Google Apps, a cloud computing suite of message and collaboration tools, which primarily includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google translate, and Google Sites; Search Appliance, a search technology for use within enterprises; Google Site Search, a custom search engine; Google Commerce Search for online retail enterprises; Google Maps Application Programming Interface for businesses; and Google Earth Enterprise, a firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization. Google Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

4) Akamai Technologies, Inc. (AKAM)

Sector	Technology
Industry	Internet Information Providers
Market Cap	$6.58B
Beta	0.87

Key Metrics

Operating Profit Margin	22.55%
Earnings Per Share Growth Rate	18.54%
Debt/Equity Ratio	0.00
Short Interest	3.96%

Akamai Technologies, Inc. provides content delivery and cloud infrastructure services for accelerating and improving applications over the Internet in the United States and internationally. The company offers application and cloud performance solutions to enhance the operation of the applications used by enterprises to connect with their employees, suppliers, and customers. Its solutions include Web Application Accelerator, which enables enterprises to run various applications; and IP Application Accelerator that is designed to optimize the performance, availability, and real-time sensitivity associated with IP-enabled applications delivered over Internet-related protocols. The company also provides video and software solutions that are designed to enable enterprises to execute their large file management and distribution strategies, which include media delivery solution to entertainment industry; and electronic software delivery solution that handles the distribution of software for its customers. In addition, it offers Website optimization services for accelerating business-to-consumer Websites that integrate collaborative content and applications into their online architecture; security and protection solutions that address the Internet security requirements; and network operator solutions, which provide custom solutions to commercial and government customers. Further, the company provides mobile content adaptation solution; and advertising decision solutions that enable advertisers, agencies, publishers, and networks to buy and sell advertising, as well as network data feeds, Website analytics, and business performance management services. It markets and sells its services and solutions through direct sales and services organization; and through active channel partners. Akamai Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

*Company profiles were sourced from Google Finance and Yahoo Finance. Financial data was sourced from Finviz on 08/23/2012.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Business relationship disclosure: This article was prepared for ZetaKap Media by one of our full-time analysts. We did not receive compensation for this article (other than from Seeking Alpha), and we have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.