Thursday - October 21, 2004
 Want to view the archive of past issues? Go here. Get Profit from the Pros content in Real Time. Learn more about this free tool at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=1517. Manage Profit from the Pros subscription: 1. FEATURED EXPERTS Here we cast the spotlight on a timely Featured Expert commentary that recently appeared on Zacks.com. Following the article you will find previews of other profitable commentaries with insights and recommendations from leading investment experts.
MARKET OUTLOOK Higher oil prices and its side effects, such as lower consumer confidence, continued to weigh on stocks last week, as all of the major averages posted moderate losses. The NASDAQ Composite fared the best and held its losses to just -0.4%. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both slipped -1.2%. Jim Collins believes oil prices will eventually decline in a substantial manner. A decline in oil prices will bring positive effects, such as more disposable income for consumers who will pay less for gasoline at the pump, and lower production and transportation costs for companies of all sizes. In a speech last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan noted that higher energy prices have reduced economic growth by 0.75% in 2004. He went on to state that current conditions are transitory and not expected to last. Mr. Greenspan also pointed out that oil prices are well below their all-time highs when adjusted for inflation and the overall economy was more adversely affected by past spikes. The bottom line is that oil prices are holding back growth somewhat, but oil prices should subside and conditions should return to a more normal state. Overall, the investment outlook remains positive. Valuations are quite reasonable and the prospects for earnings growth are attractive. Once we get past the November elections and see some relief in the energy market, the stock market should assume an upward bias. In the near-term, look for a short-term boost in individual names that report good earnings and provide a favorable outlook for the fourth quarter. InfoSpace (NASDAQ: INSP) has changed the date of its earnings announcement. Third quarter results will now be released on Monday, October 25 after the market close. Previously, the earnings announcement was scheduled for October 28. PalmOne (NASDAQ: PLMO) shares are up sharply today after J.P. Morgan upgraded the stock to ``Overweight`` from ``Neutral.`` The company said PalmOne is trading at an attractive valuation and is fully pricing in any risk associated with its release of its new smart phone. More. . .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dade Behring (NASDAQ: DADE) is the world's largest company dedicated solely to clinical diagnostics. It offers a wide range of products and systems designed to meet the day-to-day needs of medical laboratories, making it today's best resource in this field. Building Materials Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: BMHC) specializes in providing value-added services and high-quality building materials products to the residential construction market. Their operating subsidiaries include BMC West Corporation and BMC Framing Inc. Coldwater Creek Inc. (NASDAQ: CWTR) is a specialty direct mail retailer of apparel, gifts, jewelry and home furnishings. The company markets its merchandise primarily through three distinct catalogs. Northcountry is the company's core catalog and features casual, comfortable apparel, hard-to-find jewelry, distinctive artwork, gifts and items for the home. The company's premium catalog for women, Spirit of the West features fashionable, upscale apparel and hard-to-find jewelry and accessories. The company also maintains an interactive Internet commerce web site. OTC Insight® specializes in growth stocks, particularly in the small to mid-cap range. This monthly publication, which focuses on Nasdaq listed stocks, is a by-product of the research we use to select stocks for our managed client portfolios through Insight Capital Research and Management, Inc.® Learn more about this newsletter and free trial offer at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=342. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The earnings season complicates an already difficult trading
environment, but investors can still move forward by using
options. Dr. Edward Olmstead highlights an intermediate bearish
and bullish option trade that you may want to consider in this
volatile time. More... c) Significant Risks in Whipsaw Market Dennis Slothower discusses all of the headwinds producing choppy
waters for the market. Discover why he thinks waiting until post
election may be the best course of action. More... d) Robust Trends Create Margin Expansion for Electronics Retailer Ben Zacks reviews the investment thesis for his most recent Focus List addition, a leading consumer electronics retailer. More... e) Insurance and Pharmaceuticals in the News The insurance and pharmaceutical sectors have made a lot of news
recently, unfortunately it hasn`t been good. Learn how recent
events in these spaces have impacted Ron Rowland`s mutual fund
rankings. More... Featured Expert articles are courtesy of the 60+ leading investment newsletters that have partnered with us to create the Zacks Expert Advice service. Check out the Experts section of Zacks.com daily to find profitable stock picks and timely market commentary at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=637.
2. WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Experts Watch Zacks.com offers 3 unique weekly commentaries that all further
our mission to help you Profit from the Pros. Today is the
latest installment of Experts Watch from Trace Johnson. Each
week Trace shares winning strategies from leading investment
experts to outperform in any market environment. Charges and Caps Investors must be constantly aware of sector strength, as that is the closes tie that stocks have with the economy. There are, however, other factors to take into consideration when considering the types of stocks you want in your portfolio. One such factor, capitalization, is an axis along which investors should be sure to diversify. Investors should also use relative performance of companies with differing market capitalization to guide the timing of new purchases. Discover what capitalization stocks that relative performance points to right now and one other factor that you should be aware of in the earnings report of the companies you own. Picking Market Caps Many times in this space I have cited Experts who insist that stock-picking, and not index investing is the best way to make money in this market. Those same experts stressed broad diversification, but argue that simply buying index funds is not the way to accomplish it. Richard Moroney, editor of Dow Theory Forecasts warns that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is only 30 companies and the S&P 500 is dominated by just 50 stocks, or 10% of that average. Moroney thinks investors can outperform those two indices “without much additional risk…by diversifying broadly and looking for attractive stocks in all corners of the markets.” More...
And More... Click here to read the full article with commentary and
recommendations from leading market experts. http://at.zacks.com/?id=14 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SCREEN OF THE WEEK Kevin Matras looks at Cash Flows (and increasing Cash Flows) for
a winning stock picking strategy. Find out how it did over 62%
last year and how it’s beating the market again this year. We’ve
also got 3 of its newest picks for this week. More... ALL STAR TOP PICKS Machinery Industry Still Cranking The machinery industry looks poised for a strong third quarter,
and the All Stars have four recommendations that can get your
gears turning in a profitable direction. More... 3. BEST OF ZACKS INDEPENDENT RESEARCH The analysts from Zacks Independent Research create a mountain of insightful equity research everyday of the week. Here you will find the best of that information recently published on Zacks.com. BULL OF THE DAY Skyworks (SWKS) - A Leader in Wireless Semiconductors Mattel (MAT) - Faces Difficult Retail Environment Chemical Companies Look Toward Higher Demand Apparel Industry Appears Fit Materials and Technology Sectors Leading the Way in Q3
4. TRADING STRATEGIES: 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… 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. Earnings are the single most important metric for a company. Combine that with a healthy Net Profit Margin and you find a screen that generated +58.5% gain in 2001 and an even more incredible +103% return in 2003. AMCOL International Corporation (NYSE: ACO) operates in two major industry segments: minerals and environmental. The minerals segment mines, processes and distributes clays and products. The environmental segment processes and distributes clays and products for use as a moisture barrier in commercial construction, landfill liners and in other applications. The specialty mineral company announced a significant increase in its quarterly dividend in August and was recently added to the S&P 600 Small Cap Index. ACO put together an impressive year- over-year earnings per share increase of 55% and has an 8% margin. To continue your research on ACO, click here. PDI, Inc. (NASDAQ: PDII) is a leading and rapidly growing contract sales organization, providing customized product detailing programs and other marketing and promotional services to the United States pharmaceutical industry. When the company reported its second quarter earnings in August, is marketing services group reported $83.7 million in revenue in 2Q04, a 42% increase from a year ago. The company produced a 297% year over year EPS improvement and the company looks to be in good shape with contract renewals going forward. To continue your research on PDII, click here. Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. (SCHN) collects, processes and recycles metals by operating one of the largest metals recycling businesses in the United States. The company reported 3rd quarter earnings that more than doubled the same period a year ago. Operating efficiencies and margin expansion improved revenues. Average selling prices for steel are up 67% on a year-over- year basis, and 14% sequentially. The company has a 16% net margin and the company looks to be in good position going forward. To continue your research on SCHN, click here. All the Profit Track strategies were created and backtested using the Research Wizard software from Zacks Investment Research. If you like this Upgrades and Revisions strategy, but want to narrow down the list of stocks and even improve the performance, then you should start a free trial to the this powerful stock picking tool. Learn more about the Research Wizard and Free Trial offer at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=1370 5. ZacksAdvisor.com TIMELY BUY of the WEEK Novatel Wireless (NVTL) Novatel Wireless designs wireless modems that let users access the Internet from anywhere. The company, which outsources its manufacturing, offers the Minstrel series of modems for personal digital assistants such as Palm devices; the Merlin and Sage Wireless series for portable and desktop PCs; and other modems for ATMs, point-of-sale terminals, and vehicle tracking systems. Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) cards is a burgeoning market in third generation cellular systems, and Novatel Wireless has been able to harness that positive momentum. Continued adoption of WCDMA in Europe helped the company report a strong second quarter, which included earnings per share of $0.11 that topped the consensus by more than +57%. Revenues for the second quarter were approximately $24.1 million, a 59% increase over $15.1 million reported in the immediately preceding quarter and a 215% increase over $7.7 million reported in the same period last year. Based on record gross margins of 32.0% and increasing operating leverage, net income applicable to common stockholders grew to approximately $3.2 million or $0.11 per diluted share - the highest in the Company's history. This compares to net income applicable to common stockholders of $413,000 or $0.02 per diluted share in the immediately preceding quarter and a net loss applicable to common stockholders of $9.7 million or $1.35 per diluted share in the prior year period.
The firm raised its 2004 earnings-per-share estimate to 46 cents from 27 cents and its 2005 earnings-per-share estimate to 80 cents from 60 cents. The target price for the wireless- technology company was raised to $24 from $18. Banc of America said it sees gains in acceptance of 3G technology, a wireless standard that enables faster data transfers. "Although we see catalysts as 3G gains traction and management continues to execute, we remain Neutral," it said. "We look for further share gains and margin improvement to get more constructive on the stock."
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, our #5 Ranked stocks (Strong Sells) have 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 at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=1424. Or view the full list of Zacks #1 Ranked stocks at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=1423. 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, Stephen Reitmeister 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 06/18/2013
| Company Name | Symbol | %Change |
|---|---|---|
| STAAR SURGIC | STAA | 10.98% |
| LUMOS NETWOR | LMOS | 5.70% |
| INSTEEL IND | IIIN | 5.28% |
| ERICKSON AIR | EAC | 5.10% |
| ASSURED GUAR | AGO | 4.98% |
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