Monday - August 21, 2006
 Want to view the archive of past issues? Go to: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2314. Manage Profit from the Pros subscription: 1. ZACKS RANK BUY STOCKS Zacks #1 Rank stocks average a 32.4% annual return. Every day on Zacks.com we highlight four new Zacks Rank Buy stocks.
Each individual stock is chosen based on how well they match the criteria for the four main schools of investing:
Aggressive Growth, Momentum, Growth & Income and Value. Aggressive Growth - Medcath (MDTH) Medcath (MDTH) only has one analyst covering the stock, but he raised his numbers for this year and next. Two of the past four quarters have seen earnings suprises over 100%. As would be expected, earnings estimates have been shooting higher. Over the past month, this year's projections have jumped 31% to 42 cents per share. Similarly, next year's estimates have increased 31% to 85 cents per share. Read the full analysis on MDTH at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2510. Growth & Income - Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) recently lifted its fiscal 2006 earnings guidance after reporting solid results for the third quarter. The company exceeded analysts’ earnings expectation for the past 13 quarters. Consensus estimates have been on the rise for BDX. The company is currently yielding 1.3% and its return on equity nearly doubles that of the industry average—24% compared to 13%. Read the full analysis on BDX at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2511. More...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Momentum - Guess (GES) It’s been over 15 days since Guess (GES) reported surprisingly high earnings and the stock is still going strong. On Aug 2, the company posted second quarter EPS of 30 cents, versus nine cents last year. The earnings represented a 43% EPS surprise over analysts’ consensus estimates. GES’s ability to deliver a positive earnings surprise should come as no surprise to investors who have done their homework, as the company has delivered 12 straight quarters of earnings above expectations. Read the full analysis on GES at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2512. Value - American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG) American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG), which was first featured in mid March, continues to beat analysts’ earnings expectations. The company topped the Street’s estimate in four straight quarters and in 11 out of the past 13. AFG recently upped its 2006 earnings guidance. This Zacks #1 Rank stock has a price-to-book ratio of only 1.5, compared to 5.0 for the market. Read the full analysis on AFG at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2513. Zacks Rank Resources
2. PROFIT TRACKS Zacks.com is proud to share with you some of the best trading
strategies that truly allow you to Profit from the Pros. Today
we highlight... Profit Track: PEG Ratio This strategy uses the PEG Ratio to find attractively priced stocks poised for price appreciation. The PEG Ratio is simply the P/E (Price divided by Earnings) of a stock divided by its 5-year projected growth rate. Too often investors think of value investing being the antithesis of growth investing. The beauty of using PEG is that you can find value stocks even amongst hot growth stocks. Let's take a closer look. A company with a P/E Ratio of 20 and a Growth Rate of 10% will have a PEG Ratio of 2.0 (20 / 10 = 2.0). While a company with a P/E Ratio of 40 and a Growth Rate of 50% will have a PEG Ratio of only 0.8 ( 40 / 50 = 0.8) The stock with the P/E of 40 is actually the better bargain since its PEG Ratio is lower (0.8) implying it's undervalued with more upside potential. In general, a PEG value of less than 1 is considered undervalued while greater than 1 is thought to be fully valued to overvalued. The lower the PEG, the better the value, because the investor would be paying less for each unit of earnings growth. Using this indicator in a stock screening strategy can produce stellar profits, such as a 16.3% return in 2005. Complete Production Services, Inc. (CPX) recently reported second-quarter earnings of 39 cents per share, which jumped ahead of analysts’ expectations by about 11%. The company mentioned that its outlook is positive as it sees continued strong demand for its services. Complete Production Services satisfies the criteria for this Profit Track as evidenced by its PEG ratio of 0.40. Continue your research on CPX at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2254. H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (HEES) sports a PEG ratio of 0.30. The company recently announced second-quarter earnings of 52 cents per share, which topped Wall Street estimates of 37 cents. HEES stated that every major component of its business delivered solid increases in revenue and gross profit, which resulted in record quarterly net income and EBITDA for the company. Continue your research on HEES at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2255. The Manitowoc Company, Inc. (MTW) released second-quarter earnings from continuing operations, excluding special items, of 82 cents per share in late July. The result outpaced the consensus estimate by almost 4%. The company said its outstanding financial performance reflects its leading position in the global lifting industry coupled with continued solid contributions from its Foodservice and Marine segments. MTW’s PEG ratio is 0.34. Continue your research on MTW at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2256. Tidewater Inc. (TDW), another Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) company, recently posted fiscal first-quarter earnings of $1.23 per share, soaring past last year’s 50 cents and exceeding the consensus estimate by nearly 14%. Revenues increased from the year-prior total of $192.2 million to $269.8 million. Tidewater Inc. can be an attractive value investment as its PEG ratio currently stands at 0.28. Continue your research on TDW at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2257. To see the full list of stocks that currently pass this winning screen, go to: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2258. All the Profit Track strategies were created and backtested using the Research Wizard software from Zacks Investment Research. If you like this screening strategy, but want to narrow down the list of stocks and even improve the performance, then you should start a free trial to this powerful stock picking tool. Learn more about the Research Wizard free trial offer and our new special report “Top 10 Stock Screening Strategies” at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2307. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Kevin Matras goes over a screening strategy for finding cheap stocks with big returns: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2259. 3. ZACKS EQUITY RESEARCH After being issued a new series of economic numbers to chew on last week, we sat down with Dirk van Dijk, CFA, Director of Zacks Equity Research, to get his read on what these numbers may mean going forward. He was able to discuss a wide variety of industries during our discussion. Inflation seems to be inching up, despite two years of interest rate increases by the Fed. Do you think we're headed for another increase? Monetary policy always works with lags, so what we are seeing today is not the result of the increase in June, or the pause in August, but more like the increases of last winter. Also, the lag tends to be longer with respect to inflation than it is with respect to economic activity. Keep in mind that the Fed dropped rates to extraordinarily low levels – 1.0% - and kept them there for a long, long time and then raised gradually – 25 basis points at a time. This extremely easy monetary policy was probably the biggest factor in the current economic recovery. More. . .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Yes, inflation has been accelerating, but the reports last week give us some reason to be optimistic. The PPI was up only 0.1%, and if you strip out food and energy to get core PPI, it actually fell 0.3%. At the consumer level things weren't quite as good, but still better than most forecasters expected. The total CPI came in at 0.4% for July, which was sort of in-line with what the Street was expecting. However, core came in at 0.2% after four straight months of 0.3% readings. In the core, housing prices showed the biggest upward pressure, while a fall in the price of women's clothing was the biggest factor holding back inflation. Looking forward, headline inflation should moderate, since even if oil prices hold here, they would no longer be increasing, even though it would still be very good for the oil companies. I think the housing component will continue to be a problem, paradoxically due to the weakness in housing. It really appears to me that the Fed made the right move in pausing, and it should continue to pause. Short-term, the end of the housing bubble is the most significant threat to the economy. The more gradually the air can be let out of it, the better chance the economy has to adapt and weather the potential storm. Energy seems to be the main catalyst driving up costs. Is there any relief on the horizon? While I am very bullish on the energy sector, the anniversary of Katrina and Rita are coming up, so the year-over-year comparisons should start looking much more favorable. Energy stocks really only need the price of oil not to collapse to be compelling investments, not for energy prices to continue to rise at the rate we have seen for the past few years. If Energy prices plateau here it would enormously help headline CPI, though of course there would be no direct effect on core CPI. Read the complete Analyst Interview by clicking: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2723 Dirk van Dijk, CFA is the Director of Zacks Equity Research. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Analyst Blog Real-time market insights from Zacks Equity Research Analysts. Stocks featured recently include Citi Trends (CTRN), Sterling Bancshares (SBIB), Unibanco (UBB) and Monster Worldwide (MNST). To see their latest posts, click here. Hoku Scientific (HOKU) - Huge Growth Potential. For full Zacks research report, click here. Saks, Inc. (SKS) - Risky Turnaround. For full Zacks research report, click here. Insuring Your Portfolio Earnings Data: No Recession Soon Find out which stocks have been recently upgraded by Zacks Equity Research: click here. Read the reports on all of the stocks on the Zacks Equity Research Buy List: click here.
4. RESEARCH DIGEST What is Wall Street saying about your stocks? You’ll find the answer in our exclusive Research Digest reports. Everyday we provide three new free reports on Zacks.com. The rest are made available to our Zacks Premium members. Automatic Data Processing, Inc (ADP) Extreme Networks, Inc. (EXTR) PDL BioPharma, Inc. (PDLI) See all Research Digest Reports All Star Analyst Portfolio Broker Rating Upgrades 5. FEATURED EXPERTS Here we cast the spotlight on a timely Featured Expert commentary that recently appeared on Zacks.com. An Inexpensive Stock Bill Martin highlights a retailer that turned in a respectable quarter considering the tough environment. http://at.zacks.com/?id=2419 Nadine Wong realizes that biotech investing has been a little nerve wracking, but she believes the worst is behind us. http://at.zacks.com/?id=2397 Ken Trester says sideways to downside action through September is likely. Read his outlook and discover an option play. http://at.zacks.com/?id=2467. OTHER TOOLS FROM ZACKS At the heart of Zacks Investment Research is the Zacks Rank investment philosophy that continues to vastly outperform the market. Our Zacks #1 Ranked (Strong Buys) have produced the following results for investors:
And just as importantly, the Zacks #5 Rank stocks (Strong Sell) List has alerted investors as to which stocks to dump from Their portfolios to avoid unnecessary losses. To truly take advantage of the Zacks Rank, you need to first understand how it works. That's why we created the free special report: Zacks Rank Guide: Harnessing the Power of Earnings Estimate Revisions. Download a free copy now to prosper in the years to come by visiting: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2309. Or view the full list of Zacks #1 Ranked stocks at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2266. FREE PORTFOLIO TRACKER Do you believe that these events affect stock prices?
If you answered yes, then how are you staying on top of these changes for your stocks? If you are one of the 45,000 investors who wake up every morning to the Daily Portfolio Updates emails from Zacks.com, then you are all set. If not, then sign up now to get this vital information sent to you daily and improve your portfolio's performance. Did we mention it's free? Get started now by going to: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2310 We hope you enjoyed this issue of "Profit from the Pros", And we look forward to visiting with you again next week. REFER-A-FRIEND If you enjoy this e-mail newsletter, then please pass it along to a friend. Simply forward them the link below to sign up for their own free subscription. If you're reading a forwarded copy, sign up for your own, so you get this wealth of information every week. Just click here. THANKS! Regards and Happy Investing, Charles Rotblut, CFA p.s. What is the mission for Zacks Profit from the Pros? Click here to find out how we will help you become a more successful investor. *The S&P 500 Index is a well-known, unmanaged index of the prices of 500 large-company common stocks, mainly blue-chip stocks, selected by Standard & Poor's. The S&P 500 Index assumes reinvestment of dividends but does not reflect advisory fees. An investor cannot invest directly in an index. Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. To contact us by mail: Zacks Investment Research To unsubscribe from receiving "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter, click here. | |||||||||
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Zacks #1 Stocks on the Move 05/22/2013
| Company Name | Symbol | %Change |
|---|---|---|
| ALLIANCE FIB | AFOP | 9.31% |
| SONIC FOUNDR | SOFO | 7.77% |
| TRI TECH HOL | TRIT | 6.62% |
| A M R CP | AAMRQ | 4.52% |
| FLOWERS FOOD | FLO | 4.31% |
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