These Stocks Can Add Gravy to Your Portfolio

The turkey might be the reliable stalwart of most Thanksgiving tables, but it is often the gravy, stuffing, and other extras that end up being the stars of the meal. It can be much the same thing with an investment portfolio.

The bulk of most people's equity exposure should be a solid, reliable core--the turkey. It could be a broadly diversified index fund, an actively managed holding, or even a small portfolio of stocks with great competitive advantages and solid business models. This main dish of equity holdings is there to provide the bulk of a portfolio's sustenance. There is of course still going to be some risk, but the hope is that these stocks with wide or narrow economic moats can withstand economic downturns better than other companies and be able to throw off free cash flows for years into the future.

But the core can get a little boring and dry sometimes. By their nature, they are long-term holdings, and it might take years, if not decades, to see the full potential. Finding gravy, stocks that might not be long-term holdings but have great return potential, can spice things up.

Adding some gravy to your portfolio can have a few advantages. The most obvious is the potential for more return as a result of the extra risk you are taking. The second advantage is behavioral. The hallmark of a great core investment is that it isn't all that exciting. If you are the type of investor who likes to constantly check in and fiddle with different holdings, a gravy investment might give you a sandbox to play in without messing up your long-term goals.

But buying just any stock with a lot of uncertainty and hoping for the best is not a great strategy. It is still worth the time to find cheap shares, those trading at a deep discount to their fair value, as buying very expensive gravy is a good way to ruin any portfolio. To find cheap gravy stocks, you can use the  Premium Stock Screener to uncover companies that are no-moat, have high or very high fair value uncertainty ratings, and have Morningstar Ratings for stocks of 5 stars.

Below are three firms that passed the screen. Run it for yourself by  clicking here.

 Plains Exploration & Production         
Fair Value Uncertainty Rating: High | Year-to-Date Return: -5%       
From the  Premium Analyst Report:        
It's taken Plains Exploration more than five years and several billion dollars in wayward acquisitions to realize there's no place quite like home--home, in this case, being the Gulf of Mexico. Plains recently announced $6 billion in deals with
 BP (BP) and  Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) that will transform it into one of the largest independent players in the gulf and bring management back to its roots as deep-water operators. To do so, however, will require jettisoning most of the company's dry gas assets--including its Haynesville shale position--in order to pay down the massive debt load Plains is taking on to fund its re-entry into the gulf. While the company's efforts to establish an identity beyond its core California assets haven't always made for a smooth ride for shareholders during the past few years, we think this latest portfolio reshuffling makes sense and should set Plains up for long-term success. After the close, the company will be approximately 90% oil by volume, with significant near-term cash flow from its mature California assets and newly acquired gulf properties enabling debt paydown and helping to fund development in the Eagle Ford shale. Longer term, development and exploration opportunities in the Gulf should help the firm deliver profitable, double-digit increases in production, even as its onshore oil volumes begin to flatten out.

 J.C. Penney         
Fair Value Uncertainty Rating: High | Year-to-Date Return: -51%      
From the  Premium Analyst Report:       
Current macroeconomic worries and growth constraints have now been overshadowed by the potential for a complete transformation of J.C. Penney engineered by the new executive team led by CEO Ron Johnson. Although we have been skeptical in the past about Penney's ability to change, and the transformation is already proving difficult, we are optimistic that the retailer can turn around and that patient investors will be rewarded if the stock is bought at a significant discount to our fair value estimate.

 InterMune         
Fair Value Uncertainty Rating: Very High | Year-to-Date Return: -29%       
From the  Premium Analyst Report:       
InterMune is a biopharmaceutical firm focused on developing therapies for the treatment of lung and liver disorders. Sustainable profitability for this emerging biotech is still several years away, and hinges on the regulatory and commercial success of its new lead product, Esbriet. We think this orphan drug could eventually reach blockbuster status once it makes it to market worldwide.

Data as of Nov. 21.