Top Performing Stocks for the Week Ended Nov 16

The five best performing stocks on the Zacks #1 Rank List last week were: Turkcell (TKC - Analyst Report), OM Group, Inc. (OMG - Snapshot Report), Goldman Sachs (GS - Analyst Report), MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR - Snapshot Report) and Fair Isaac Corporation (FIC).

Turkcell (TKC - Analyst Report) made the top performing Zacks #1 Rank list for a second consecutive week. Shares of the company gained almost 9.1% last week, compared to a rise of 6.15% in the previous week. The provider of mobile communications services continues to benefit from its solid third-quarter results, announced on Nov 7. Revenue of US$1.7 billion improved 44% compared to US$1.2 billion a year earlier. Recorded net income rose to US$401.2 million from US$311.8 million. Its subscriber base grew 13%.

With a rising population of cell phone users in Turkey, Turkcell appears to have a lot of potential for the future. In fact, the company expects double-digit revenue growth in 2008. Earnings estimates of this year are up 5% over the past month, including a rise of 2.8% in just the past seven trading days.

OM Group, Inc. (OMG - Snapshot Report) made the top performers list for the week ended Nov 16 with a gain of almost 9%. Early this month, the specialty chemicals company announced third-quarter net sales of $264.6 million, which increased 55% from the previous year’s $170.4 million. OM Group attributed the sales increase to several factors, including increased product selling prices, increased demand across most of its inorganic and electronic chemical end markets, and the re-sale of cobalt metal. In addition, earnings per share from continuing operations bettered the consensus by almost 20%.

Earnings estimates for this year are up 6.5% from one month ago, including a rise of 1.5% in the past seven trading days. OM Group is getting help from high raw material prices and solid customer demand. Furthermore, the company continues to improve profitability by more prudently deploying cash. OM Group believes that such efforts will result in consolidated revenues between $2 billion and $4 billion by 2010.

Goldman Sachs (GS - Analyst Report) separated itself from the pack last week when its CEO stated that the firm has no plans to take any further writedowns. This contrasts with rivals such as Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, which have recently announced larger-than-expected writedowns. Goldman Sachs has a short position in the subprime mortgage market. The news helped shares of the company gain 6.6% last week, making it one of the top-performing Zacks #1 Rank stocks.

For its third quarter, announced in late September, Goldman Sachs reported earnings per share of $6.13, compared to $3.26 a year earlier. The result beat the consensus by as much as 39%. In addition, net revenue soared 63% to $12.33 billion. Earnings estimates for the year ending this month are up 12.2% over the past two months.

MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR - Snapshot Report) is a leading worldwide provider of business intelligence (BI) software. With a gain of 6.33%, the company was one of the best-performing Zacks #1 Ranks for the week ended Nov 16. Over the past month, earnings estimates for this year are up approximately 13% to $4.83. The company became the leading independent provider of open systems BI software recently after IBM and SAP acquired Cognos and Business Objects, respectively.

In late October, MicroStrategy announced third-quarter earnings per share of $1.51 on revenue of $95.8 million. EPS beat the consensus by more than 41%, and also improved year over year. Revenue rose 23% from the previous year’s $77.7 million – marking the 19th straight quarter of year-over-year revenue growth. Product licenses revenue increased 23% in the quarter, while product support, services and other revenues also gained 23%.

Fair Isaac Corporation (FIC) is a business advisory company that advanced 6.23% last week; enough to be a Zacks #1 Rank top performer for the period ended Nov 16. Over the past month, earnings estimates for the year ending September 2008 are up 5.9%. Earlier this month, the company announced a new stock repurchase program to acquire up to $250 million of its outstanding common stock, and also declared a quarterly cash dividend of two cents per share.

Late October saw the company report its fiscal fourth-quarter financial results. Excluding items, earnings per share of 49 cents surpassed the consensus by approximately 19.5%. The company was pleased with its performance in the quarter and remains focused on achieving sustainable growth in 2008 and beyond.