The traditional approach to value investing is buying stocks that appear cheap relative to their book value. Most often these cheap stocks are discovered by investors who pour over financial statements and filings to establish stocks that others are underestimating. Independent research firm Boyar Research tears up the value-investing playbook by looking at value stocks through a private-equity lens, and demonstrating that finding value picks can be more than just looking at financial statements.

It’s a strategy that’s paid off. Boyar Research’s picks have consistently outperformed the market. Over a 7-year period, the average annualized return of stocks profiled by Boyar is 20%, almost 5% above that of the S&P 500. The outperformance is even more striking when it comes to microcap stocks. Over a 5-year period, Boyar’s average microcap returns are 28.7%, 17% above the S&P. According to Boyar’s website, approximately one in two ideas outperformed the index over a 1-, 3-, and 5-year period.

At The Edge conference on November 18, Jon Boyar, president of Boyar Research, shared three high-conviction buy ideas that demonstrate three different schools of thought in value investing.

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