Quality large caps by fwd P/E
Query: US large-cap quality stocks with ROE above 15% and debt to equity under 1, compared by forward P/E · data as of 2026-10-14
Built a large-cap quality-value screen: US stocks above $10B market cap with trailing ROE > 15% and debt/equity between 0 and 1, ranked ascending by forward P/E (45 names). Cheapest quality names cluster in insurers (Allstate, Travelers, Progressive, Arch, RenaissanceRe, Ameriprise, Apollo), energy producers (Texas Pacific Land, Devon, EOG, APA), and de-rated consumer/tech franchises (Adobe, Intuit, Lululemon, PDD, PayPal). Table includes forward/trailing P/E, ROE, D/E, 1M and 6M returns, and % from 52-week high, with qualitative row commentary and a takeaway narrative on the value/leverage setup.
Large-cap US stocks (market cap above $10B) with trailing ROE above 15% and debt/equity under 1, ranked by forward P/E from lowest to highest — the cheapest quality balance sheets in the market. Data as of October 14, 2026.
Large-Cap Quality Compounders — Lowest Forward P/E First
| Symbol | Security Name | Sector | Industry | Market Cap | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E | ROE | Debt / Equity | 1M Return | 6M Return | % from 52W High | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TPL | Texas Pacific Land Corporation | Energy | Oil & Gas E&P | 2.446e+10 | 4.85 | 45.11 | 30.94% | 0.012 | -4.59% | -14.77% | -34.31% | Royalty-like land and water rights on Permian acreage generate near-zero-debt, high-margin cash flows uncorrelated with drilling capex — a rare asset that funds itself. The wide gap between trailing and forward multiples reflects oil-price normalization embedded in consensus estimates, so the low forward multiple is a commodity bet as much as a quality one. |
| CMCSA | Comcast Corporation | Communication Services | Telecom Services | 7.47e+10 | 5.81 | 6.75 | 22.28% | 0.939 | -12.46% | -23.43% | -35.19% | Broadband and wireless subscriber losses plus cord-cutting keep the narrative negative, but connectivity now drives more profit than media and the balance sheet carries meaningful leverage. The market is pricing terminal decline for a business still throwing off large free cash flow — the bull case hinges on buybacks shrinking the share count faster than revenue erodes. |
| AES | The AES Corporation | Utilities | Utilities - Diversified | 1.067e+10 | 6.29 | 5.6 | 20.59% | 0.264 | 1.08% | 6.43% | -13.43% | Utility with a renewable-heavy growth pipeline funded through project-level debt; leverage is manageable at the parent level but the growth model is rate-sensitive. The screen's cheapest multiple in the utility group reflects a market that no longer pays up for contracted renewables growth when the 10-year is elevated. |
| PDD | PDD Holdings Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Internet Retail | 1.159e+11 | 6.65 | 8.52 | 23.67% | 0.013 | 4.32% | -20.12% | -41.03% | Temu's global expansion and the domestic marketplace remain dual engines, but the deep discount versus US e-commerce peers mostly encodes geopolitical and listing risk rather than fundamentals. A shift in US de-minimis tariff treatment or Chinese regulatory posture is the swing factor — the business itself converts profit to cash at a high rate. |
| SYF | Synchrony Financial | Financials | Credit Services | 2.334e+10 | 6.82 | 7.36 | 21.56% | 0.997 | -5.71% | -4.83% | -18.93% | Consumer credit lender whose earnings sit on a knife-edge of charge-off rates; the high ROE is partly a leverage artifact within the card business. Cheapest multiple in consumer finance reflects real caution about credit normalization late in the cycle rather than franchise deterioration. |
| AA | Alcoa Corporation | Materials | Aluminum | 1.058e+10 | 6.91 | 8.33 | 22.44% | 0.554 | -13.84% | -42.85% | -52.17% | Aluminum producer with earnings highly geared to LME pricing and energy costs; the forward multiple embeds a mid-cycle metal price that may prove optimistic if Chinese supply stays long. Balance sheet is far stronger than the last cycle, so downside is more cyclical than solvency-driven. |
| UHS | Universal Health Services, Inc. | Health Care | Medical Care Facilities | 1.096e+10 | 7.71 | 7.59 | 20.11% | 0.822 | 5.11% | 3.45% | -23.87% | Behavioral health and acute-care hospital operator whose cash generation funds steady buybacks; volumes are policy-sensitive, particularly around Medicaid supplemental payments and exchange subsidies. A defensive revenue base at a single-digit multiple is the classic value proposition here. |
| FSLR | First Solar, Inc. | Information Technology | Solar | 1.925e+10 | 7.76 | 18.29 | 15.47% | 0.059 | -11.50% | -8.26% | -43.73% | Thin-film solar manufacturer whose US manufacturing footprint is its key moat against Chinese module imports and a direct beneficiary of domestic-content tax credits. Earnings visibility depends heavily on policy durability and backlog conversion, so the multiple swings with Washington rather than with the sun. |
| RNR | RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. | Financials | Insurance - Reinsurance | 1.411e+10 | 8.28 | 5.89 | 31.42% | 0.215 | 3.29% | 9.54% | -0.38% | Reinsurer with a disciplined underwriting culture and an investment portfolio benefiting from higher reinvestment yields; ROE is elevated by a hard property-cat market that will eventually soften. Capital returns via buybacks matter because book value compounds without needing new risk. |
| LULU | lululemon athletica inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Apparel Retail | 1.09e+10 | 8.36 | 7.62 | 32.73% | 0.373 | -4.35% | -42.18% | -56.42% | Premium activewear brand whose US growth stalled and whose international expansion is now the swing factor; the inventory and product-assortment missteps knocked sentiment hard. At this multiple the market is treating once-elite brand equity as ordinary retail — either a value trap or a genuine reset depending on North America stabilization. |
| ALL | Allstate Corporation (The) | Financials | Insurance - Property & Casualty | 5.972e+10 | 8.57 | 4.73 | 32.48% | 0.243 | -8.18% | 8.79% | -14.15% | Auto and home insurer benefiting from several years of aggressive rate increases finally outpacing severity inflation; ROE is at cycle highs. The key risk is that pricing power fades just as the favorable reserve development that flattered earnings reverses. |
| ADBE | Adobe Inc. | Information Technology | Software - Application | 9.367e+10 | 8.75 | 13.78 | 61.90% | 0.615 | -6.63% | -1.63% | -33.13% | Creative software franchise now trading like a value stock as investors worry generative AI both threatens its design moat and forces costly compute investment. Net revenue retention and the pace of monetizing AI features into subscription tiers are the metrics that will decide whether this is a generational entry point. |
| FUTU | Futu Holdings Limited | Financials | Capital Markets | 1.534e+10 | 8.96 | 12.11 | 28.34% | 0.116 | 0.67% | -32.49% | -45.01% | Hong Kong-based online brokerage riding cross-border wealth flows from mainland China; earnings scale rapidly with trading activity but the customer base is geographically concentrated. The discount reflects regulatory and geopolitical overhang far more than the operating model. |
| DVN | Devon Energy Corporation | Energy | Oil & Gas E&P | 5.491e+10 | 9.18 | 10.85 | 17.12% | 0.628 | -2.75% | 11.87% | -4.13% | Shale operator with a Delaware Basin core and a variable dividend tied directly to cash flow; the low multiple is standard for E&P but the payout structure gives direct commodity upside. Returns of capital, not growth, are the investment case. |
| TCOM | Trip.com Group Limited | Consumer Discretionary | Travel Services | 2.483e+10 | 9.19 | 5.79 | 19.55% | 0.215 | -0.94% | -28.16% | -50.76% | Chinese travel platform recovering with outbound volumes that remain well below 2019 peaks, leaving room for a multi-year normalization runway. The gap to global OTAs is a China-risk discount that narrows or widens on policy headlines rather than booking trends. |
| SF | Stifel Financial Corporation | Financials | Capital Markets | 1.024e+10 | 9.25 | 12.13 | 16.13% | 0.507 | -11.74% | -16.41% | -23.66% | Regional broker and wealth manager with a capital-markets-sensitive earnings mix; ROE is decent but the franchise lacks the scale advantages of the wirehouse peers. Recruiting advisor headcount is the real growth metric, not trading volumes. |
| TOL | Toll Brothers, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Residential Construction | 1.202e+10 | 9.27 | 9.91 | 15.89% | 0.016 | -2.64% | -6.59% | -21.50% | Luxury homebuilder levered to affluent buyers who are less rate-sensitive than entry-level purchasers; land-light strategy supports returns on equity. The order book will reprice quickly if mortgage rates fall and sidelined trade-up demand re-enters. |
| AMP | Ameriprise Financial, Inc. | Financials | Asset Management | 4.38e+10 | 9.62 | 11.99 | 57.36% | 0.044 | -11.36% | 11.49% | -13.12% | Diversified asset manager and insurer whose advisory flows and spread income both benefit from a higher-for-longer rate environment; an unusually high ROE for the group reflects a fee-heavy mix and aggressive capital return. Watch the pace of advisor recruiting as a forward indicator. |
| HIG | The Hartford Insurance Group, I | Financials | Insurance - Diversified | 3.574e+10 | 9.64 | 9.11 | 20.31% | 0.24 | -2.99% | -4.02% | -9.42% | Commercial and personal lines insurer with strong underwriting discipline; the diversified book gives it a smoother ROE than monoline property-cat peers. Reserve adequacy in commercial liability is the industry-wide question hanging over the multiple. |
| TROW | T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. | Financials | Asset Management | 2.125e+10 | 9.68 | 10 | 19.37% | 0.041 | -4.42% | 6.20% | -18.13% | Active manager facing structural fee compression as assets migrate to passive; the strong ROE comes from an equity-heavy balance sheet and a very profitable but shrinking core. The multiple is a referendum on whether active management fee rates stabilize. |
| PYPL | PayPal Holdings, Inc. | Financials | Credit Services | 4.799e+10 | 9.68 | 10.6 | 26.13% | 0.576 | 4.26% | 13.83% | -23.17% | Payments franchise with a revitalized branded-checkout strategy and improving transaction-margin economics; the low multiple prices in competitive pressure from wallets and buy-now-pay-later. Braintree re-pricing and branded growth are the two levers that could re-rate the stock. |
| PHM | PulteGroup, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Residential Construction | 2.083e+10 | 9.72 | 11.17 | 17.05% | 0.013 | -8.47% | -9.10% | -23.30% | Entry-level homebuilder most exposed to affordability constraints; the multiple reflects margin compression from incentives and rate buydowns. A decline in mortgage rates is the single biggest catalyst for both order volume and gross margin recovery. |
| DECK | Deckers Outdoor Corporation | Consumer Discretionary | Footwear & Accessories | 1.128e+10 | 9.9 | 11.78 | 40.97% | 0.15 | 6.85% | -23.93% | -31.52% | Footwear brand with a UGG and HOKA portfolio that has outgrown the category; the discount reflects fear that HOKA's growth rate normalizes. Clean balance sheet and high ROE mean the downside is sentiment, not solvency. |
| ACGL | Arch Capital Group Ltd. | Financials | Insurance - Diversified | 3.33e+10 | 9.99 | 7.64 | 18.19% | 0.0064 | 0.58% | 0.13% | -8.34% | Specialty insurer whose mortgage and casualty segments produce exceptionally low leverage and high returns; results turn on mortgage insurance credit conditions and casualty reserve development, both currently benign. |
| CART | Maplebear Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Internet Retail | 1.172e+10 | 10.09 | 26.99 | 18.66% | 0.015 | 5.53% | 19.64% | -4.60% | Grocery-delivery marketplace where advertising revenue is the highest-margin growth engine; the gap between trailing and forward multiples reflects a swing from investment spending to operating leverage. Retailer partnership concentration is the structural risk. |
| GL | Globe Life Inc. | Financials | Insurance - Life | 1.287e+10 | 10.13 | 11.12 | 19.08% | 0.457 | -3.20% | 12.73% | -10.00% | Life and supplemental health insurer with a distribution-heavy model that generates steady, low-volatility ROE; credibility among agents, not credit quality, is the reputational input the market watches most closely. |
| NEM | Newmont Corporation | Materials | Gold | 1.175e+11 | 10.54 | 14.07 | 20.52% | 0.162 | -10.17% | -0.87% | -17.45% | Gold miner with the sector's largest production base and improving cost discipline after integrating a major acquisition; earnings are a direct function of bullion prices, so the low multiple is a commodity call. Unlike gold itself, the equity carries operational execution risk. |
| APO | Apollo Global Management, Inc. | Financials | Asset Management | 6.696e+10 | 10.56 | 40.35 | 17.50% | 0.713 | -10.72% | -5.14% | -25.74% | Alternative manager transitioning to a fee-related, spread-driven earnings model that should compress the multiple over time; GAAP earnings are depressed by mark-to-market while distributable earnings run far higher. The gap between accounting and cash earnings is the entire debate. |
| EOG | EOG Resources, Inc. | Energy | Oil & Gas E&P | 8.088e+10 | 10.61 | 12 | 16.11% | 0.299 | 0.29% | 18.24% | 0.00% | Premium shale operator with a top-tier cost structure and a commitment to returning most free cash flow to shareholders; the multiple is standard for E&P but the quality of inventory is above average. Natural gas and NGL exposure adds a second commodity lever. |
| FOXA | Fox Corporation | Communication Services | Entertainment | 2.659e+10 | 10.7 | 16.2 | 20.90% | 0.681 | -7.93% | -1.85% | -18.26% | Broadcast and cable news operator with a large cash pile and a buyback program that shrinks the float; the multiple reflects structural cord-cutting risk. A political-advertising-heavy cycle can produce lumpy but meaningful cash surges. |
| RJF | Raymond James Financial, Inc. | Financials | Asset Management | 3.021e+10 | 11.09 | 13.7 | 16.99% | 0.044 | -6.50% | 1.66% | -13.21% | Advisor-centric wealth manager whose earnings track retail engagement and capital markets activity; capital strength supports consistent recruiting. The franchise grows through advisor productivity rather than rate spreads. |
| APA | APA Corporation | Energy | Oil & Gas E&P | 1.66e+10 | 11.09 | 9.99 | 24.10% | 0.533 | -0.08% | 31.21% | -1.33% | International oil producer with a heavy North Sea and Egypt footprint where production declines require continuous reinvestment; the discount to shale peers is legitimate. Suriname offshore is the wildcard that could reset the growth profile. |
| DHI | D.R. Horton, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Residential Construction | 3.738e+10 | 11.36 | 12.74 | 15.33% | 0.003 | -4.68% | -5.75% | -20.35% | Volume homebuilder with the industry's strongest closing machine and a spec-home strategy that keeps inventory turning; buybacks have become a larger part of the story. Gross margin will remain the pressure point as incentives persist. |
| INTU | Intuit Inc. | Information Technology | Software - Application | 8.296e+10 | 11.38 | 18.93 | 18.76% | 0.371 | -5.28% | -19.62% | -54.57% | Accounting and tax software franchise with exceptional switching costs, now de-rated on fears that AI agents disintermediate its forms-based workflow. The durable moat is the data and compliance layer, not the interface — the market is currently pricing the opposite view. |
| CF | CF Industries Holdings, Inc. | Materials | Agricultural Inputs | 1.808e+10 | 11.46 | 8.86 | 31.28% | 0.633 | -11.86% | -0.20% | -14.22% | Nitrogen fertilizer producer whose margins swing with natural-gas spreads and global grain economics; the low multiple reflects peak-cycle fears. Cheap North American gas feedstock is a structural cost advantage versus European and Asian competitors. |
| WDC | Western Digital Corporation | Information Technology | Computer Hardware | 1.363e+11 | 11.47 | 13.52 | 19.51% | 0.178 | -11.62% | -0.19% | -51.21% | Storage hardware maker now a direct AI-datacenter supply-chain play after separating its flash business; the multiple is low because the market treats it as cyclical hardware even as nearline drive demand tracks hyperscaler capex. Very high beta to AI capital spending sentiment. |
| NTES | NetEase, Inc. | Communication Services | Electronic Gaming & Multimedia | 7.923e+10 | 11.67 | 15.76 | 21.71% | 0.018 | 3.55% | 7.85% | -19.05% | Chinese online gaming and education company with a deep IP pipeline and a large net cash position funding buybacks; the discount is largely a China-listing penalty. New game approvals are the recurring positive catalyst. |
| CHKP | Check Point Software Technologi | Information Technology | Software - Infrastructure | 1.369e+10 | 11.86 | 13.75 | 36.67% | 0.012 | -2.69% | -0.45% | -34.40% | Enterprise cybersecurity vendor with a subscription model, net cash balance sheet, and consistently high margins; growth has decelerated to single digits, which is exactly why the multiple is in value territory. The question is whether platform consolidation can reaccelerate the top line. |
| CRH | CRH PLC | Materials | Building Materials | 5.269e+10 | 11.97 | 13.99 | 16.43% | 0.996 | -9.68% | -31.33% | -39.72% | Building-materials consolidator with infrastructure and road-construction exposure that is less housing-cyclical than the name suggests; strong pricing power has held through volume weakness. The balance sheet is at the limit of the screen's leverage threshold. |
| AFG | American Financial Group, Inc. | Financials | Insurance - Property & Casualty | 1.208e+10 | 12 | 12.73 | 18.00% | 0.435 | 1.28% | 12.89% | -0.75% | Specialty P&C insurer with a disciplined niche focus and a high-annuity earnings base from investment income; capital return is steady. Reserve development in the specialty lines is the sector-wide watch item. |
| SCHW | Charles Schwab Corporation (The | Financials | Capital Markets | 1.674e+11 | 12.4 | 17.63 | 17.98% | 0.419 | -10.20% | -2.83% | -14.83% | Retail brokerage with a bank charter that lets it sweep client cash into spread income; rate moves therefore cut both ways. Deposit attrition in favor of higher-yielding alternatives is the metric that has driven the de-rating. |
| TRV | The Travelers Companies, Inc. | Financials | Insurance - Property & Casualty | 7.88e+10 | 12.51 | 10.16 | 19.66% | 0.29 | -0.04% | 27.18% | -4.88% | Commercial and personal lines insurer at the top of its pricing cycle, with investment income supported by higher reinvestment yields; the multiple is near group highs. Catastrophe experience and commercial liability reserves set the tone for forward ROE. |
| INCY | Incyte Corporation | Health Care | Biotechnology | 2.261e+10 | 12.52 | 14.19 | 22.88% | 0.0098 | -8.35% | 14.90% | -14.13% | Biopharma with a topical dermatology and myelofibrosis franchise that generates real profit but faces pipeline concentration and patent-cliff questions late in the decade. The multiple discounts the gap between near-term cash flow and uncertain longer-term growth. |
| GEHC | GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. | Health Care | Medical Devices | 3.093e+10 | 12.66 | 15.78 | 20.19% | 0.988 | 6.87% | -6.80% | -22.33% | Medical-imaging and diagnostics equipment maker spinning out business lines to sharpen focus; hospital capex trends and China procurement are the two volume drivers. Leverage is at the high end for the screen, a remnant of its carve-out. |
| YUMC | Yum China Holdings, Inc. | Consumer Discretionary | Restaurants | 1.458e+10 | 12.86 | 15.82 | 18.48% | 0.427 | 3.62% | -11.39% | -25.45% | China's largest restaurant operator by units, with a KFC and Pizza Hut base that generates real cash and an aggressive unit-growth plan; the multiple reflects consumer-spending weakness and a persistent China discount. Franchising and low-ticket value menus make it comparatively defensive within Chinese discretionary. |
Takeaway
What the screen shows
The cheapest quality balance sheets in large-cap US equities cluster in three venues: insurers, oil & gas producers, and de-rated consumer/tech franchises. That is not a random draw — it is a market paying up for growth and AI optionality while discounting cash-generative, capital-light businesses that fund themselves.
Insurance is the densest pocket. Roughly a third of the list is P&C, life, reinsurance or asset management (Allstate, Travelers, Progressive, Hartford, Arch, RenaissanceRe, Ameriprise, Apollo, T. Rowe, Raymond James, Stifel, Schwab). The sector has been repriced lower even as underwriting margins sit near cycle highs, which is the classic late-cycle setup: the market is looking past peak ROE rather than at current earnings.
Energy producers appear both at the very top of the list and mid-table. The discounts are commodity-driven rather than quality-driven, so these are effectively long oil calls with a shareholder-return component.
De-rated consumer and software franchises — Adobe, Intuit, Lululemon, PDD, PayPal — are the most interesting cohort, because their multiples now embed narrative damage (AI disruption, brand slippage, China risk) rather than deteriorating fundamentals. ROE above 15% with debt/equity under 1 means these are profitable, self-funding businesses on sale.
How to use it
Ranking by forward P/E ascending surfaces names where consensus already models an earnings decline. That is why several top rows show a large gap between trailing and forward multiples: the market is not mispricing current profits, it is pricing their decay. The real work is deciding which of those decay assumptions are too pessimistic.
Risk framing
Leverage discipline was enforced here (debt/equity under 1), which matters in a market where financing-dependent AI names are being repriced against a 10-year at 4.63%. Nothing in this screen needs capital markets access — a meaningful advantage if the current factor unwind broadens. The corollary risk is that cheap, cash-generative value often stays cheap until a catalyst forces recognition, and several of these names lack an obvious near-term one.
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Educational research tool — not investment advice. A screen is a starting point, not a recommendation.