Sahmino screen of 1,699 TSE symbols finds 50 cheap, profitable stocks; three insurers trade at less than half their sector's P/E (Monday, September 21, 2026)

Sahmino's screen across all 1,699 stock and fund symbols on the Tehran bourse and Farabourse found 50 names that simultaneously carry a P/E under 6, a return on equity (ROE) above 20 percent, and real asset turnover above 0.3, meaning businesses that actually sell and actually earn, not just holding companies with high book profit. At the top of the list stand three insurers and one oilfield services firm: Asia, Parsian and Hafari Shomal, with P/E ratios between 2 and 2.3. For the first two insurers, that is less than half the 4.34 average P/E of the whole insurance sector. The reading is based on the interim financial statements for the three months ended June 21, 2026, and Monday, September 21, 2026 closing prices.

Background

Tehran's insurance sector has traded at a discount to the broader market for years; a mix of heavy investment portfolios, underwriting risk, and reliance on returns from affiliated funds has led investors to accept a lower P/E for the sector. The insurance sector's average P/E stood at 4.34 on September 21, 2026, itself below the wider bourse average. Today's screen shows that even inside this already-cheap sector, a fresh gap has opened: two of its largest names trade at half their own sector's average. The oil and gas services sector, home to Hafari Shomal, carries a lower average P/E of 2.4, and Hafari trades close to, not below, that average.

The numbers

• Asia: trailing twelve-month P/E of 2.01 (based on the interim statement for the three months ended June 21, 2026), ROE of 58.01%, annual profit growth of 807.6%. It opened below the prior close yesterday (September 20), marking a third straight lower close, then closed today at 3,660 rials, down 2.66% from the prior session.
• Parsian: P/E of 2.04, ROE of 41.67%, dividend yield of 13.57%. It traded at today's price ceiling (1,821 rials) and closed at 1,815 rials, up 2.6%.
• Hafari Shomal: P/E of 2.29, close to its own oil and gas services sector average of 2.4, ROE of 38.98%. It opened 2.88% below the prior close yesterday, a sixth straight lower close, then closed today at 5,620 rials.
• Iksz (Iran Khodro Diesel): P/E of 3.07, roughly half the automotive sector's 5.88 average, ROE of 59.75%, annual profit growth of 416%.
• Alborz: P/E of 3.84, ROE of 34.82%, dividend yield of 4.13%. It gapped up 2.97% yesterday to a one-year high of 2,906 rials and closed today with an unfilled buy queue of 58.1 million shares.
• Shatehran (Tehran Pharmaceutical): P/E of 3.82, ROE of 41.42%. It logged an eighth straight higher close yesterday, its highest since January 11, 2026, and closed today with a buy queue of 3 million shares.

Of the 1,699 symbols screened, 50 met all three conditions at once. Coverage is not complete: P/E is computed for 928 symbols, ROE for 707, and asset turnover for 712 of the whole market, since a number of symbols have not filed recent statements. None of these six symbols is subject to Article 141 of Iran's Commercial Code.

Drivers

Market-wide, overnight pricing pressure ran higher on currency, crypto, gold and oil products, and lower on banks and credit institutions and on autos and parts, per Sahmino's desk-board reading on September 21. For the insurance sector specifically, the autumn assembly season and anticipation of half-year financial reports are drawing attention to the group; Parsian's 13.57% dividend yield and Alborz's 4.13% are attractive to income-focused investors ahead of assemblies. The over-800% and over-400% annual profit growth at Asia and Iksz, respectively, stem partly from a relatively low base in the year-earlier period and need confirming in the next quarter's reports.

Outlook

The P/E gap between Asia and Parsian and the insurance sector average can close two ways: either their share prices rise toward the sector average, or sector-wide profitability grows enough to pull the average down toward them. Today's and yesterday's price action, Parsian and Alborz rising against Asia and Hafari falling, shows this has not resolved one way yet. Hafari Shomal and Iksz, whose P/E sits closer to or below their own sector average, are a more cautious version of the same logic.

Bottom line

Today's screen identifies 50 real, profitable stocks with a P/E under 6 out of 1,699 Tehran bourse and Farabourse symbols, and at the top of it sit three names, Asia, Parsian and Hafari Shomal, with P/E ratios between 2 and 2.3. The P/E gap between Asia and Parsian and the insurance sector's 4.34 average should stay under 2.5 through the autumn assemblies unless both stocks' quarterly profit growth stalls in the next report; this call is broken if both P/E ratios stay under 2.5 through the end of November while the sector average climbs past 5.

What to watch

• The half-year interim statements from Asia, Parsian and Hafari Shomal and their quarterly profit trend.
• The insurance sector's autumn assemblies and their dividend decisions.
• Whether the P/E gap between these two insurers and the sector average widens or closes on Sahmino's own screener.

For more on price-to-value gaps elsewhere in the market, see our analysis of Shapna's forward P/E, our piece on reading a trailing P/E through 87.9 percent inflation, and our analysis of the DARA fund's NAV discount.