There has been a bit of controversy about the utility of higher current ratio securities selection in recent years, since in the run-up to some of our more dramatic bear markets executives have not infrequently used bigger reserves for unfortunate ends, such as paying fat upper echelon bonuses at the expense of the shareholders, buying back stock at inflated valuations, or swallowing up costly smaller companies whose operations may provide little or no synergies, efficiency, or profitability once combined with the purchasing corporation's activities. For the value enthusiast, a remedy for this hazard is apparent: choose assets which have both sufficiently high current ratios and low enough price to value that a collection of such investments is more likely to prove lucrative than to succumb to the natural tendencies of dumb managements.

According to Janet Lowe, in her book, Value Investing Made Easy, these tried and true principles, first explained during the Great Depression in Graham and Dodd's Security Analysis, remain effective means of finding moneymaking investments today.

Thanks to the rules of supply and demand and the value investing approach now being better known, as a percentage of the market fewer companies' shares meet the original standards Ben Graham advocated. However, these opportunities are as yet not rare. Further, the internet makes screening for them far easier than when Graham and his partners would send for and read the prospectuses of hundreds of companies to locate the gems they were seeking. While I certainly cannot claim the investment genius of a Ben Graham or of a Graham disciple, Warren Buffett, the following companies' shares do look appealing to me, based on their having reasonably high current ratios and other promising value factors:

An even better indicator of good prospects exists for a stock for which the value of the current ratio is rising relative to the average CR reported over the previous four quarters. Among the above cited stocks, this is true for GLF, HMY, and ZOLT. Though it does not meet all the criteria I use for the stocks in the table, another interesting candidate with a rising current ratio is Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (REGI) ($5.12).

One can find different recommendations concerning how many value stocks to keep in one's portfolio. A Warren Buffett may acquire substantial holdings in only a few, benefiting from the higher returns likely from a more concentrated basket of successful assets. However, Buffett has the means to determine just when best to "swing," and he can and does wait for years till the "pitches" are exactly what he is seeking. For people willing to sift through equity opportunities yet possessing more average skills and resources for the game, a gradually built up portfolio of around 30 or more stocks makes sense in my view. As a maturing collection of stocks provides good gains, so that some no longer are at bargain levels, they may be sold and replaced in turn with new assets meeting one's value criteria, including perhaps a high current ratio.