Tuesday - September 4, 2007
 Want to view the archive of past issues? Click here. Manage Profit from the Pros subscription: 1. ZACKS RANK BUY STOCKS Zacks #1 Rank stocks average a 32.2% 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 - Sandisk Corporation (SNDK) GeoEye, Inc. (GEOY) is a thinly covered stock with stellar prospects. Only one analyst covers it, but the numbers are clearly moving in the right direction. The company beat the analyst's estimate by 328% in its recent quarter, which forced him to more than double his estimates. The chart is in an uptrend and if it breaks the $24 level, it is off to the races. Read the full analysis on GEOY now! The Board of Directors at Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. (SCHN) exceeded analysts' earnings expectations in four out of the past five quarters by an average margin of 32.2%. Consensus earnings estimates are up over the past 60 days for this Zacks #1 Rank stock. The company has returned value to shareholders through both stock buybacks and dividend payments. SCHN has a price-to-book ratio of 2.1, compared to 4.7 for the market. Read the full analysis on SCHN now!
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 Tracks: Earnings and Margins This Profit Track goes to the heart of fundamental investing by finding companies with healthy earnings. The main ingredients are the search for Earnings Growth and Net Profit Margins. Then for good measure we make sure earnings estimates are moving higher which is a strong indicator of future performance and that brokerage firms are positively rating the stock. Here are four stocks that make the grade for the Earnings and Margins Profit Track: Amerisafe, Inc. (AMSF) meets the criteria of this Profit Track as evidenced by last year's earnings growth of 248% above the previous year and a net margin of 0.11. In early August, Amerisafe reported second-quarter earnings of 56 cents per share, outpacing the consensus estimate by 27% and exceeding the year-prior result. AMSF's earnings per share have been above the consensus estimate over the past five consecutive quarters. Read the full analysis on ADAM now! Interline Brands, Inc. (IBI) announced second-quarter earnings of 37 cents per share in early August, outperforming the year-ago 30 cents and beating the consensus estimate by 12%. Sales for the second quarter were up by 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. The company sports earnings per share growth of 19% for the most recently completed year, versus the year-prior. Read the full analysis on IBI now! Kadant, Inc. (KAI) posted income from continuing operations (after-tax) of 42 cents in late July. The result topped last year's 40 cents and eclipsed the consensus estimate by 11%. The company mentioned that it ended the quarter with $87 million in backlog, a record level for Kadant. Read the full analysis on KAI now! Navigators Group, Inc. (NAVG) saw annual earnings per share growth of 158% for the most recent full year, compared to the year-ago result. NAVG offers a net margin of 0.14. Excluding items, the company released second-quarter earnings of $1.41 per share in late July, surpassing the year-prior $1.09 and jumping ahead of the consensus estimate by 17.5%. Read the full analysis on NAVG now! To see the full list of stocks that currently pass this winning screen, click here. 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”. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Kevin Matras explains why you should own stocks with new analyst coverage. More... 3. ZACKS EQUITY RESEARCH Listen to the audio podcast for Earnings Preview through Zacks' NEW Audio Feature: After enjoying a three-day weekend, traders are going to come back to their latest obsession: the Fed. The guessing game as to what the Fed is going to do about rates will continue until Sep 18. Complicating matters will be the release of two key economic reports. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will publish the results of its August survey of the manufacturing sector on Tuesday. On Friday, the Department of Labor will issue August employment numbers. Both reports could show that despite all of the fuss about the credit markets, the economy continued to expand in August. Additionally, both reports provide insight into inflationary pressures with the ISM measuring prices paid and the Labor Department calculating wage growth. As odd as it may sound, the worst possible scenario could be if the two reports showed economic growth with modest inflationary pressures. Such a scenario would not provide any clarity as to what the Fed will do at its Sep 18 meeting. Sustained growth would enable the Fed to let the market work things out, while moderating inflationary pressures could allow the Fed to lower rates. More. . .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The economic calendar will also feature July construction spending (Tuesday), July pending home sales (Wednesday), revised second-quarter productivity (Thursday), the August ISM non-manufacturing survey (Thursday) and July wholesale trade (Friday). The earnings calendar is very light with just 46 companies confirmed to report. S&P 500 members Campbell Soup (CPB) and National Semiconductor (NSM) will both report on Thursday, Sep 6. There are three key dates for September. The Federal Open Market Committee will hold a one day meeting on Sep 18. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, starts at sundown on Sep 12. (Expect trading volume to taper that afternoon.) Triple witching will occur on Sep 21 and Yom Kippur will start that evening. Normally, triple witching has the possibility of causing increased volatility, but given the timing of the Jewish holiday, it is possible that a higher than normal amount of contracts could be settled on Thursday, Sep 20. Companies That Could Issue Positive Earnings Surprises during the Week of Sep 3 - 7 Telecom equipment and service provider ADC Telecom (ADCT) topped expectations during the past two quarters by an average margin of 7.5 cents. Ahead of the company's fiscal third- quarter report, one covering brokerage analyst raised his forecast. The revision did not change the consensus estimate, which remains at 22 cents per share, but it did move the most accurate estimate up to 23 cents per share. ADC Telecom is scheduled to report on Wednesday, Sep 5, after the close of trading. To read the complete Analyst Interview, click here. Charles Rotblut, CFA, is the senior market analyst for Zacks.com. He can be reached at crotblut@zacks.com. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Real-time market insights from Zacks Equity Research Analysts. Stocks featured recently include DaimlerChrysler (DAI), Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO), Simon Property Group (SPG) and Genentech (DNA). Get their latest posts: click here. Dell, Inc. (DELL) - Brighter Times Ahead. For full Zacks research report, click here. H&R Block (HRB) - Mortgage Exposure. For full Zacks research report, click here. Rate Cut Already Priced Into Market Listen to the audio podcast for Earnings Trends through Zacks' NEW Audio Feature. Earnings Stay Strong 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. OPTIONS CENTER Zacks has partnered with the leading options experts, Schaeffer's Investment Research, to provide you the best options commentary, research, and trading tools on the market today. Zacks/Schaeffer’s Options Trading service. Keeping an eye on options activity can give you that edge when determining how to play the market. One excellent method for judging options activity is by looking at the Zacks Put/Call Open Interest Ratio Above 1.0 filter. This filter singles out stocks that have acquired an abnormally high degree of put activity compared to call activity, and when combined with other sentiment indicators, can help you select a nice bullish addition to your portfolio. For reference, a put/call open interest ratio is simply the ratio of total put open interest to total call open interest. We compute the Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) based on open interest in the front three months only. These near-term options tend to attract a more speculative crowd, the sentiment of which is more useful for shorter-term trading. Before looking at a particular stock, let's address our Schaeffer's methodology. We are contrarian-based investors, indicating that we want to see skepticism toward an outperforming stock. On the other hand, we typically like to see optimism toward an underperformer. In our eyes, too much optimism is a sign that nearly everyone who wants to invest in a particular stock already has. Just because a stock sees substantial optimism doesn't mean that we will blindly short that particular security; we need to see some negative price action or a major catalyst for a downside move in order to pull the trigger in most cases. Other indicators we use to measure overall sentiment include short interest, magazine cover stories, media comments, and analyst ratings. Looking over the list of stocks with SOIRs above 1.0, I noticed VCA Antech (WOOF), an animal healthcare services company in the U.S. The security's SOIR comes in at 3.63, as put open interest more than triples call open interest among options with fewer than three months until expiration. What's more, this reading is higher than 96% of those taken during the past year. In other words, speculators have been more bearishly aligned against the shares only 4% of the time during the past 12 months. Meanwhile, analysts are surprisingly negative toward this strong performer. According to Zacks, three of the six brokerage firms following WOOF rate the stock a "hold" or worse. This configuration leaves ample room for potential upgrades that could further the equity's quest for higher ground. On the short-interest front, investors are bailing on their bearish positions on WOOF in droves. During August, the number of WOOF shares sold short plunged by more than 25%. A continuation of this short-covering could provide additional buying pressure for the shares, thus pushing them higher still. From a technical perspective, this heavy degree of pessimism toward WOOF is quite surprising. The security has trekked more than 585% higher along the support of its 10-month and 20-month moving averages since September 2003. What's more, the equity has not closed a month below this duo of trendlines during the time frame. While the shares have pulled back during the past couple of sessions, they are currently consolidating their gains into support in the round-number 40 region. This level is the home of prior resistance, holding WOOF from February through July. However, resistance levels, once breached, can reverse roles and provide support. It seems that the 40 level has now assumed this supportive role, and could be a key springboard for WOOF going forward. With a wealth of bearish sentiment indicating the potential for an influx of sideline money for WOOF, along with the stock's long-term technical uptrend, the shares appear poised to continue their move skyward. Overall, this combination of pessimism and technical strength has bullish implications from a contrarian perspective, and an unwinding of these bearish bets could help add some lift to the shares. Make sure to continue utilizing all of the valuable filters on these pages for more money-making ideas. Moreover, don't be afraid to make a few paper trades in order to see what strategy works best for you. Please remember that, when it comes to options, the majority of your trades are going to be losers. Don't get discouraged, because that's the beauty of the leverage that options provide. It takes only a few winners out of every 10 trades to make you a very happy investor. To learn more about the Unusually High Volume Calls filter, click here. Discover all the tools and commentary available from the Zacks.com Options Center. Leverage the timeliness of Zacks #1 Rank stocks with options trades that maximize profits and minimize risks. Learn more about our new Options Trading service. 5. Best of the Zacks $100,000 Challenge Zacks is conducting a nationwide talent search to find the very best stock pickers. The winner gets a $100,000 dream job with Zacks! Sign up for free to join the competition, or just read what stocks the leading players are trading on the Zacks Challenge Player Blogs. Best of the Zacks Challenge Player Blogs Here's what the leading players are saying lately: MightyMo Mo IT'S TIME TO JUMP IN All of those factors will keep China's growth strong in the short and long term. Now an interesting twist is that China is preparing... Read More or Comment on this post. Lilnev2000 AEROSPACE & DEFENSE ETF - PROTECTION FROM VOLATILITY (ITA) Read More or Comment on this post. Jhigginbottom ACCREDITED HOME LENDERS PREFERREDS (AHH-A) Read More or Comment on this post. Read all the Player Blog posts. 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. 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 55,000 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 to help take definitive action to improve your portfolio's performance. Did we mention it's free? Get started now! 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. *Zacks Rank performance is the total return (price changes + dividends) of equal weighted portfolios, consisting of those stocks with the indicated Zacks Rank, assuming zero transaction costs. These returns are not the result of a backtest; these are actual returns since 1988. The stocks in the Zacks Rank portfolios were available to Zacks clients before the beginning of each month (monthly rebalancing). Performance results from 1988 through September 2006 are based on a subset of all Zacks Rank stocks that excludes stocks covered by only one analyst and ADR’s. 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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At the center of everything we do is a strong commitment to independent research and sharing its profitable discoveries with investors. This dedication to giving investors a trading advantage led to the creation of our proven Zacks Rank stock-rating system. Since 1986 it has nearly tripled the S&P 500 with an average gain of +26% per year. These returns cover a period from 1986-2011 and were examined and attested by Baker Tilly, an independent accounting firm.
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