To fill the coveted post-Super Bowl spot, NBC aired a new, hourlong episode of "The Office." Its guest stars included Jack Black, Cloris Leachman and, as hot a star as ever, Jessica Alba.
Alba has been in the news a lot lately, putting her at the top of Yahoo's (YHOO) Buzz list, especially after conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly called her a “pinhead.” In light of the attention being paid to this star, Stockpickr.com and Stockerblog.com have compiled the Jessica Alba Stock Index, which is similar to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tracks the publicly traded companies connected to Alba through such things as her films acting and endorsements.
The portfolio shows that the Jessica Alba Stock Index was down 17.5% since the beginning of the year, compared with the Dow, which was down 8.8%.
One of the stocks in the index is cosmetics and personal care products company Revlon (REV), which hired Alba to appear in several of their commercials, including one for "3D Extreme Mascara". The company has been increasing market share in several categories recently, according to BMO Capital Markets analyst Connie Maneaty. Revlon has a very favorable price-to-earnings ratio of 3.5, which is much better than the average P/E of 11 for its competitors. The company has $1.3 billion in debt, giving the stock a negative net worth. The operating cash flow for this nondividend stock is $85 million.
Revlon is one of the stocks of Ron Perelman, a noted investor in strong cash-flow-generating companies who is known as the "buyout king." Perelman also likes Scientific Games (SGMS), with a P/E of 13, and M&F Worldwide (MFW), with a P/E of 3.5.
Alba has a strong connection to the entertainment companies that distribute the motion pictures and television shows that she has appeared in. Her big break took place when, out of 1,200 actresses who auditioned, she nabbed the starring role of Max Guevara on the science fiction TV series "Dark Angel." The series appeared on Fox, which is owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of News Corp. (NWS, NWS-A), headed by Rupert Murdoch. Other News Corp. Alba movies include The Fantastic Four and the sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, in which she starred as Sue Storm the Invisible Woman. Both films were distributed by 20th Century Fox.
News Corp. has a great P/E ratio of 3.5, $13.5 billion in debt and $5.5 billion in cash, and it pays a yield of 1.9%, easily covered by its $3.36 billion operating cash flow.
News Corp. is one of the stocks owned by Eton Park Capital, founded in 2004 by former Goldman Sachs trader Eric Mindich, who had become its youngest partner at the age of 27. Eton Park also owns a couple of other entertainment-related stocks, including Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO), with a P/E of 5.5, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (HOT), with a P/E of 7.
Alba has starred in a couple of Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) movies, Good Luck Chuck and "The Eye," for which she won the Teen Choice Award for a Movie Actress in a Horror/Thriller Film. Lions Gate will announce its third-quarter earnings on February 9. Currently, the company has been generating negative earnings, but its forward P/E is 21. Its debt level, at $329 million, is reasonable, because the company has $249 million in cash in the bank. It doesn't pay a dividend but instead reinvests all its earnings back into the company.
Alba appeared on the cover of the March 2006 issue of Playboy (PLA) magazine, earning her the title of Playboy's Sex Star of the Year and a spot on the magazine's 25 Sexiest Celebrities list. Christie Hefner, the 20-year CEO of the company and daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, just stepped down from her position on Jan. 31. The stock has a forward P/E of 16. This is a very low-cap stock and should therefore be considered very speculative.
Check out the rest of the stocks in the Jessica Alba Stock Index on Stockpickr.
Posted on Feb. 4, 2009
