Friday - December 8, 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 31.8% 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 – Cephalon Inc. (CEPH) Earnings estimates have been on the rise for Cephalon Inc. (CEPH), especially over the past two months. Over that time period, this year's estimates have jumped 24.3% to $4.29 per share. CEPH has blown out expectations that past two quarters by an average of 60%. It is no surprise the stock is a Zacks #1 with fundamentals like this. Read the full analysis on CEPH now! Tiffany & Co. (TIF) exceeded analysts’ earnings expectations in six out of the past eight quarters by an average margin of 19.9%. In addition to posting solid third-quarter results, TIF boosted its full-year earnings per share guidance. Analysts responded by upping their profit forecasts for both this year and next. TIF has a current dividend yield of 1.0% and a five-year average dividend yield of 0.66%. Read the full analysis on TIF now! More...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - On Oct 26,EMC Insurance Group Inc. (EMCI) reported third-quarter earnings at 85 cents per share, in line with analysts’ expectations. The result was fueled by the unexpectedly quiet tropical storm season that freed up reserves that had been set aside for losses. Read the full analysis on EMCI now! Loews Corporation (LTR), a Zacks #1 Rank stock, exceeded analysts’ earnings expectations in 11 out of the past 12 quarters by an average margin of 16.7%. Consensus earnings estimates have risen over the past two months. The company has a price-to-book ratio of 1.4, compared to 4.8 for the market. LTR’s return on equity tops that of the industry average—15% compared to 13%. The company is currently yielding 0.62%. Read the full analysis on LTR 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. Earnings are the single most important metric for a company. Combine that with a healthy Net Profit Margin and you find a screen that has generated a cumulative return of +425% since January 2001. During 2005, this screen continued its winning ways with a +22.3% return. AAON Inc. (AAON) delivered 55% growth during the most recent year, versus to the year-prior. AAON has a net margin of 0.06. In early November, the company reported record earnings and sales. Third-quarter earnings per share totaled 43 cents, which was ahead of last year's 22 cents and above the consensus estimate by almost 23%. The company stated that the increase in earnings resulted primarily from both higher volume and price increases, which provided an improvement in gross margins in the third quarter. Continue your research on AAON now! Lufkin Industries, Inc. (LUFK) satisfies the criteria for this Profit Track as evidenced by its year-over-year earnings per share growth of 193% and its net margin of 0.09. The company announced third-quarter earnings of $1.15 per share in mid-October. The result eclipsed the year-prior total of 76 cents and topped the consensus estimate by a penny. Sales for the third quarter were up 28.4%, compared to the previous year's result. Continue your research on LUFK now! McDermott International Inc. (MDR), a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) company, posted third-quarter earnings of 89 cents in early November. The result outperformed the previous year’s 53 cents and surpassed analysts’ expectations by approximately 48%. The company stated that whether it's coal-fired power, oil & gas infrastructure or nuclear activities, the energy markets that McDermott serves continue to be robust. MDR is a profitable company as evidenced by its net margin of 0.11. The company generated earnings per share growth of 252% during the most recently completed year, compared to the year-prior. Continue your research on MDR now! TransGlobe Energy Corp. (TGA) boasts year-over-year earnings per share growth of 230%. The company also enjoys healthy profits as evidenced by its net margin of 0.34. In late October, the company released its financial and operating results for the three month period ended September 30, 2006. TransGlobe Energy’s earnings per share totaled 12 cents, exceeding the consensus estimate by 20%. Continue your research on TGA 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”. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Using Common Sense to Manage Your Portfolio Kevin Matras explains why monitoring stocks is as important as picking them. More... 3. ZACKS EQUITY RESEARCH Although there are plenty of issues to keep our attention on the markets here at home, we never want to lose sight of what’s going on in other regions. Recently, we spoke with senior Pacific Rim analyst Peter Chua to find out how markets are performing in that section of the world. Pacific Rim telecom stocks are still gaining at a strong rate. Are you still looking for growth to moderate, even turn negative, in certain highly penetrated markets? The Asia/Pacific region – aside from Japan – can be divided into two camps. The first consist of the mature markets with high penetration rates, like Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. These areas have 90% to over 100% penetration rate, which means some of its population have more than one subscription plan. Therefore, they are expected to show slightly negative growth rates. On the other hand, there is still room for growth in China, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. More. . .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The largest growth potential belongs to China and India. By the end of 2006, China is expected to add some 60 million new subscribers for the year, and the Information Industry Ministry is forecasting that 33% of China’s total population will possess a mobile phone, and this is still a long way from saturation. India is even earlier in the growth stage. With a population almost similar with China, India has only 136 million users compared to China's 420 million mobile phone users. In August 2006, India grew by 5.9 million, even surpassing China's 5.2 million monthly gain. In 2007, India is forecasted to add about 80 million wireless subscribers. How much of recent gains have to do with the declining U.S. dollar, in your view? I think the performance of telecom companies share prices has been due to expectations of higher earnings because of the low penetration rates and subscriber growth potential in selected markets. Are you starting to see more regulatory commissions emerge in the region, such as the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in the Philippines? We think regulation plays a large role in shaping the competitive landscape. For instance, the NTC is crafting a “Competition Policy” to regulate the advantage enjoyed by dominant industry players. One of the proposed policies is to obligate dominant licensees to publish access prices and interconnection agreements to prevent anti-competitive behavior. The NTC would also mandate the unbundling of network elements as a policy to promote competition and force interconnection among providers. An unbundling policy would encourage competition because it will lower the technical and economic barriers to entry by allowing new operators the choice of building some network components while obtaining the others from incumbents. The NTC has a target of two years to put the competition policy in place. Although this will definitely promote wider competition within the industry, we believe it is too early to fully assess its impact on the industry. How each company will be affected still depends on government’s regulation of access rates both on the wholesale and retail level. Read the complete ANALYST INTERVIEW article now! Peter Chua is a senior Zacks analyst with a coverage consisting of Pacific Rim telecommunications firms. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Analyst Blog Real-time market insights from Zacks Equity Research Analysts. Stocks featured recently include Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM), AutoZone (AZO), DirectTV (DTV) and Scientific Games (SGMS). To see their latest posts, click here. Simon Property Group (SPG) - Strength Remains. For full Zacks research report, click here. Secure Computing (SCUR) - Mired in Debt. For full Zacks research report, click here. Positive Trends for Investment Banks Forecasts Still Good, Despite Drop in Estimates 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. FEATURED EXPERTS Here we cast the spotlight on timely Featured Expert commentaries that recently appeared on Zacks.com.
Nadine Wong sees continued upward momentum for one biotech. Discover which stock is on a roll. More...
Joseph Parnes says the economy is being given a surprise lift by three pillars. Read about the pillars and discover three stocks. More...
Walter Frank highlights the international real estate market and a mutual fund from that space. 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 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. 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 05/23/2013
| Company Name | Symbol | %Change |
|---|---|---|
| WESTELL TECH | WSTL | 6.15% |
| MAXWELL TECH | MXWL | 4.09% |
| ALLIANCE FIB | AFOP | 2.79% |
| SYNAPTICS IN | SYNA | 2.77% |
| MARRIOTT VAC | VAC | 2.47% |
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