Wednesday - November 1, 2006
 Want to view the archive of past issues? Click here. Manage Profit from the Pros subscription: 1. ZACKS RANK BUY STOCKS Zacks #1 Ranked 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 – Priceline.com (PCLN) Priceline.com (PCLN) has exceeded earnings estimates in 10 out of the past 11 quarters. Five of those surprises exceeded 20%. Additionally, year-over-year growth has been stellar over that time period. Over the past 60 days, this year's estimates have increased a nickel to $1.78 per share, while next year's numbers have jumped 21 cents to $2.26 per share. Read the full analysis on PCLN now! Growth & Income – United Technologies Corporation (UTX) United Technologies Corporation (UTX), first presented as a Growth and Income stock on May 9, exceeded analysts’ earnings expectations for 16 straight quarters. After posting solid results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2006, the company raised its full-year earnings per share guidance. Consensus estimates have been on the rise for both this year and next year. UTX has a current dividend yield of 1.6% and a five-year average dividend yield of 1.5%.. Read the full analysis on UTX now! More...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Momentum – Greif Inc. (GEF) On Aug 30, Greif Inc. (GEF) announced third-quarter earnings per share of $1.45 versus 88 cents in the prior-year period. In addition to this 65% year-over-year improvement, the earnings report was a 32% positive surprise over analysts’ expectations. Sales were reported at $690 million, up 13% from 2005.. Read the analysis of GEF now! Value – Avnet, Inc. (AVT) Avnet, Inc. (AVT), a Zacks #1 Rank stock, topped analysts’ earnings estimates in five out of the past six quarters by an average margin of 10%. Earnings per share are forecasted to grow 16.1% over the next 3-5 years. The company has a price-to-book ratio of 1.2, compared to 5.5 for the market. Its PEG ratio currently sits at 0.62. Read the full analysis on AVT now!
2. SCREEN OF THE WEEK Zacks.com offers three unique weekly commentaries that all
further our mission to help you Profit from the Pros. Today is
the latest installment of Screen of the Week from Kevin Matras.
Each week, Kevin shares with you another winning screen he has
discovered using the Research Wizard software from Zacks
Investment Research. Click here to learn more about the Research Wizard. “A Relative Price Strength Screen for All Markets” The last three-and-a-half months have been fantastic for the market. I believe this may be the beginning of the bull market that we’ve all been waiting for. But this week’s screen doesn’t need a bull market to succeed. I’m featuring a Relative Price Strength screen that’s been beating the market in both good times and bad. The parameters to this screen are as follows:
The Results: I ran a series of tests using a four-week holding period over the last four-and-a-half year time span. Each test was started on a different start date to eliminate coincidental performance and to verify robustness. In the bear market of 2002, this strategy showed an average compounded gross return of 13.5%. In the cake-walk of 2003, it showed a whopping 102.9%. In 2004, the strategy showed an average compounded gross return of 48.9%. In 2005, the returns were 64.6%. And so far in 2006 (YTD through 10/27/06), the returns stand at 14.4%. Here are three stocks that pass this screen for 10/31/06:
Learn how to find winning stocks in any market. Test this screen and others or build your own strategies. It can all be done with the Research Wizard. Sign up for your free trial now. Discover all the Free Screening Tools on Zacks.com now! Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. 3. ZACKS EQUITY RESEARCH While speculation abounds regarding new ways to use coal as fuel in the future, we thought it would be worthwhile to sit down with our coal analyst Matthew Thurmond for a talk on how this might be affecting coal stocks going forward. How are current coal prices affecting companies within the coal industry? We have seen a price decrease recently. I’d say most people watch the Central Appalachian spot prices for the NYMEX, and those have been down recently due to various pressures. This year, right now we’re looking at prices around the low $40s, but if you look back to around this time last year, prices were getting up close to $60. That has put some pressure on margins, obviously. And because of this, we’ve seen a little bit of selling off, both with the mining companies and master limited partnerships (MLPs). More. . .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Are they selling off both equally, or is one of these groups performing worse? Well, if there’s a problem as far as commodity pricing, it’s usually worse for mining companies; successful price increases are generally better for the coal miners. But with prices falling, MLPs have also sold off, but the miners have sold off more. Now that certain alternative energies such as ethanol are starting to become more reliant on coal energy to fire their plants, do you expect any upward trend in coal prices in the near future? That’s a pretty macro question, actually – there are a lot of factors in what you just said. More than just ethanol plants, coal’s uptrend would depend on competing fuel prices. And natural gas is much cleaner to burn in a power plant, no question about it. So if natural gas is cheap, and if the plant managers think it will remain cheap for the long run, then they’ll go with natural gas-fired power plants. But with the recent volatility and upswing in natural gas prices, one of the reasons you could say the coal MLPs are still relatively high today is because natural gas is high. If natural gas prices were to drop and people believe the lower prices were sustainable – say we get more production from shale or new technology allows us to horizontal drill – if natural gas prices drop, coal prices drop in tandem. That’s pretty much how it works. Long-term, I would stay neutral on the outlook for the coal industry. I could definitely see prices staying where they are, which would be a good thing because they offer fairly decent margins for the miners. And while I could see prices stabilizing around where they currently, I don’t see the price of coal shooting to the moon anytime soon. Are third-quarter earnings where you expected them to be thus far? I would say they are, though it’s kind of been a mixed bag. On the one hand we’ve got Peabody Energy (BTU), the largest coal miner probably in the whole world, which had about a 20% positive surprise. This was definitely unexpected. On the other hand, Arch Coal (ACI) and Consol Energy (CNX) – the other two mining companies in my coverage – had pretty significant negative surprises. Then again, they had told us back in the second quarter that they were seeing a little bit of depressed pricing, production problems, moving large equipment from mine to mine and shutting down other mines. So these negative surprises were really not all that surprising. Read the complete ANALYST INTERVIEW article now! Matthew Thurmond is a Zacks analyst covering the coal sector of the energy industry. . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Analyst Blog Real-time market insights from Zacks Equity Research Analysts. Stocks featured recently include Harris Corp. (HRS), Cirrus Logic (CRUS), Starwood Hotels & Resorts (HOT) and IPC Holdings (IPCR). To see their latest posts, click here. Southern Copper Corp. - Poised for Expansion. For full Zacks research report, click here. AMCORE Financial - Estimates Falling. For full Zacks research report, click here. The Week of Oct 30 – Nov 3 Positive Revisions Return 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. ZACKS WEALTH MANAGEMENT Every week, Zacks Wealth Management provides informative articles on how to build and protect wealth. Today’s topic is:
Last week, we talked about the advantages of living trusts in terms of privacy, expeditiously passing your property on to your beneficiaries, and the ability to set up numerous provisions that could help you lower your estate tax bill and perhaps avoid paying estate tax altogether. Today we will focus on trusts you may set up so that your family could ultimately bypass estate taxes after you die. When Do I have to Pay Estate Taxes? To review, if you were to pass away this year, you may leave behind $2 million worth of property without paying estate tax. If you are married your spouse also has his/her own $2 million exemption also. Any amount above $2 million will trigger the estate tax and you will owe about 47% on the overage. For example, suppose John Smith and his wife dies. They have assets of $4 million, but no estate plan. The estate would owe taxes on $2 million ($2 million is exempt, but the additional $2 million is taxed) that comes out to around $940,000 in taxes. Yikes! How Can I Avoid Estate Taxes with a Trust? So how can you and your family by-pass those taxes in this scenario? You may set up provisions that will have the assets flow into a family trust (credit shelter trust or ‘B’ trust) and a marital trust (‘A’ trust) after you die. In this case, $2 million (exemption amount) would go into the family trust after death. The main goal of this trust is to transfer property to beneficiaries other than your spouse. Your spouse may take out money for anything involving his/her health, education, maintenance and support. At your spouse’s death the property from this trust could ultimately go to your children or any other beneficiaries you wish. Again your estate is not taxed on any amount above $2 million so in this case your estate will owe no tax. You’ve taken advantage of your exemption amount and this is the property you ultimately want to bequeath to your heirs. Then there’s the aforementioned marital trust or ‘A’ trust. The amounts that flow into this trust are used for the benefit of your spouse and the use of his/her estate tax exemption. Bear in mind that spouses may pass an unlimited amount of assets to each other without incurring tax. Since property in this trust it is not taxed at the first death, there will be a tax at the second death on amounts above $2 million. In this case you and your spouse were able to use both your $2 million exemptions and reduce or by-pass estate taxes. If your spouse dies at this point, then your heirs won’t owe any estate taxes. The family trust received $2 million (your exemption, assets go to your beneficiary) and the marital trust received $2 million (your spouse’s exemption, she may pass on to beneficiaries of her choosing). Without these trusts, if you died and left $4 million to your spouse, then taxes would be owed on the amount above the $2 million exemption at the second death. In this case, $2 million times 47%. Not good news to your heirs who may have to liquidate assets to pay the taxes. Using the A and B trusts would allow both of you to use your exemptions and possibly help your family avoid the estate taxes altogether. With a little planning, you can help your heirs and save them a lot of pain in the process. It takes some work to establish trusts, but the benefits will be well worth it. Jonas Zamora is a Certified Financial Planner™ professional This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Zacks Investment Management, Inc. is not engaged in rendering legal, tax, accounting or other professional services. Publication and distribution of this article is not intended to create, and the information contained herein does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. Do not act or rely upon the information and advice given in this publication without seeking the services of competent and professional legal, tax, or accounting counsel. CFP Board, a nonprofit regulatory organization, fosters professional standards in personal financial planning so that the public values, has access to and benefits from competent and ethical financial planning. CFP Board owns the certification marks CFP®, Certified Financial Planner™ and federally registered CFP (with flame logo), which it awards to individuals who successfully complete initial and ongoing certification requirements. CFP Board currently authorizes more than 50,000 individuals to use these marks in the United States. For more about CFP Board, visit www.CFP.net. Learn more about Zacks Wealth Management now! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MITCH ZACKS ON THE MARKETS Maintaining Target for the S&P 500 Relatively strong earnings should push the market higher: http://at.zacks.com/?id=2995. 5. FEATURED EXPERTS Here we cast the spotlight on a timely Featured Expert commentaries that recently appeared on Zacks.com. Paul Tracy discusses what he looks for in a corporate turnaround candidate. Benefit from his insight. More... Charles Carlson discusses the shift to technology stocks. Read his “last word” and check out some possible opportunities. More... Don Dion illustrates why the Fed’s next move should be a careful one. Read Don’s Outlook and Portfolio Spotlight. More... 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 (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. Or view the full list of Zacks #1 Ranked stocks. 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 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. The Zacks Performance Rank performance is the total return of equal weighted simulated portfolios consisting of those stocks with the indicated Zacks Rank net of fees. Results reflect the reinvestment of dividends and other earnings. Simulated results do not represent actual trading and may not reflect the impact that economic and market factors might have had on decision-making if an adviser were actually managing a client's money. 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 05/17/2013
| Company Name | Symbol | %Change |
|---|---|---|
| VIASAT INC | VSAT | 19.35% |
| OLD SECOND B | OSBC | 5.76% |
| GAMCO INVEST | GBL | 4.61% |
| CORNING INC | GLW | 4.47% |
| SYNCHRONOSS | SNCR | 4.23% |
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