Great and Expensive or Good and Cheap?

While stocks with great growth stories often attract investors’ attention, Jim Oberweis says companies that aren’t quite as attractive but have better stock valuations can be a better investment.

“As much as I love businesses with seemingly bulletproof growth stories, it is the combination of business quality, growth opportunities and stock price that really matters when it comes to returns,” Oberweis writes in his latest Forbes column. “A good business at a really cheap valuation might trump a great business at a very high valuation. The key lies in understanding a business’ flaws and assessing if the valuation properly discounts them (or ideally, overdiscounts them). I call these ‘growth stocks with wrinkles.'”

These stocks can sometimes come with uncertainty that scares many investors away. “If the price is cheap enough, however, the overall investment potential can be just as good as the most glamorous growth story,” Oberweis says. He looks at three such picks, including Colorado-based Advanced Energy Industries.