Tuesday - April 3, 2007
 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 (CEPH) Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) is moving its silicon group into a separate business division. The Sparc microelectronics group will develop chips for the high-performance, cryptography and network markets. The group will also supply Sun’s systems businesses and do business with OEMs around the world. CEO Jonathan Schwartz commented, “Sun’s innovations have value and appeal beyond our own servers and storage products. As with our software, decoupling our silicon from a strict reliance on Sun’s systems raises our profile and opportunity globally.” Read the full analysis on SUNW now! AMERISAFE, Inc. (AMSF), presented as a Value pick on Dec 21, has returned over 28%. AMSF exceeded analysts' earnings expectations for the past five quarters--all double-digit percentage surprises. Consensus earnings estimates continue to trend higher for AMSF. Read the full analysis on AMSF 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: Return on Equity (ROE) This Profit Track strategy uses Return on Equity (ROE) to discover solid stocks. ROE is one of the quickest ways to gauge whether a company is creating assets or gobbling up investors' cash. Here are four stocks that make the grade for the Return on Equity (ROE) Profit Track Alliant Techsystems, Inc. (ATK) will announce financial results for the fiscal fourth quarter on May 4, 2007. The company reported third-quarter results in early February. Earnings per share increased on a year-over-year basis and topped the consensus estimate by 6%. The company also raised its guidance for fiscal 2007 and analysts followed suit. The current full-year 2007 consensus estimate moved up to $5.20 per share. Two months ago, Wall Street was forecasting $5.08. The company is creating assets as evidenced by its ROE of 29.75. The company's price to sales ratio is 0.83. Read the full analysis on ATK now! Big Lots, Inc. (BIG) has a ROE of 11.29 and a price to sales ratio is 0.72. The company posted fourth-quarter results in early March, stating that during 2006, it restored consistency in comp sales growth, turned inventory faster, and generated more cash than any other period in its history. Quarterly earnings per share beat the consensus estimate by 15.5% and more than doubled year-over-year. Read the full analysis on BIG now! United America Indemnity, Ltd (INDM) satisfies the criteria of this Profit Track as evidenced by its ROE of 12.92 and price to sales ratio is 0.91. INDM released fourth-quarter earnings of 79 cents per share in early February. The result eclipsed Wall Street estimates by 39% and topped the year-ago total. The company reported quarterly earnings per share that were ahead of the consensus estimate four times out of the past five quarters. Read the full analysis on INDM now! Keystone Automotive Industries, Inc. (KEYS) recently announced that it intends to appeal a ruling by an administrative judge in a patent suit filed against the company by Ford Global Technologies LLC. KEYS offers a ROE of 11.28 and a price to sales ratio is 0.79. In late January, the company noted that it delivered record earnings and sales for its fiscal third quarter. Earnings per share totaled 57 cents, which surpassed the previous year's 44 cents and jumped ahead of the consensus estimate by 21%. Read the full analysis on KEYS 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 using a backtested trading strategy is the only way to go. More... 3. ZACKS EQUITY RESEARCH With gas prices again heading north as the spring season emerges, we wanted to speak with senior analyst Paul Raman, CFA about how this – and other issues – are currently affecting the automotive industry. Where are U.S. automakers in terms of a turnaround these days? Are you expecting big things in 2007? U.S. automakers are continuing to cut costs in order to be competitive with their overseas rivals. GM (GM) has witnessed impressive earnings gains due to cost cutting, while Ford (F) has not yet done so. I expect more of this basic trend in 2007. More. . .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Are Japanese automakers still taking large amounts of market share from its U.S. brethren, or is this finally slowing down? Overseas car makers have 37% of the U.S. market, and this is still rising. This is due to better quality cars that are gas efficient and the U.S. public does not mind paying more for. With gas prices going up again, do you expect to see more hybrid cars emerging from U.S. automakers? How fast is the hybrid market growing? I expect to see more hybrids, but right now they are only 1-2% of the market because they are expensive. It is growing, but it takes time to introduce new products. Which companies are your top Buy recommendations at this time? Any Sells you'd care to mention? I have GM rated a Buy. GM has witnessed noticeable earnings improvement due to cost cutting, and is still a cheap stock at only 7-8 times earnings. To read the complete Analyst Interview. Paul Raman, CFA is a senior analyst covering the automotive industry for Zacks Equity Research. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Real-time market insights from Zacks Equity Research Analysts. Stocks featured recently include Conseco (CNO), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) and CarMax (KMX). Get their latest posts: click here. Dendreon Corp. (DNDN) - Up Big on FDA News. For full Zacks research report, click here. TriQuint Semi (TQNT) - Softening Market. For full Zacks research report, click here. The Week of Apr 2 – Apr 6 Revisions Ratio for 2007 Drops to 0.80 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. Last week, we looked at the Most Active Calls filter on Zacks. This week we’ll switch gears and check out the Put/Call Open Interest Ratio Above 1.0 filter. A put/call open interest ratio is simply the ratio of total put open interest to total call open interest. We compute 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 Kohl’s (KSS). The security’s SOIR rests at 1.64, as put open interest easily outweighs call open interest among options with fewer than three months until expiration. What’s more, this reading sits at an annual high. In other words, at no time during the past year have options speculators been more bearishly aligned against the shares. Options players aren’t the only ones who have their doubts about the retailer. The number of KSS shares sold short has risen to 10.4 million, resulting in a respectable short-interest ratio of 3.7. An unwinding of these bearish bets could supply the security with some short-covering support. Meanwhile, Wall Street is split on the firm’s prospects. Zacks reports that KSS has earned eight “buy” ratings, seven “holds,” and one “strong sell.” This configuration leaves ample room for potential upgrades, which could supply the shares with a nice boost. From a technical perspective, KSS has been a stellar performer. The equity has easily outpaced both the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and its peers in the S&P Retail Index (RLX) on a monthly basis since January 2006. What’s more, the stock is currently sitting on a year-to-date gain of 11%, while the SPX has tacked on less than 0.2%. Last week, the equity broke through staunch resistance in the 74-75 region, which had capped KSS on a number of occasions since late October. The stock hit its highest level since May 2002, and is now less than 4% away from its all-time high of $78.83. Furthermore, the security has been in a strong uptrend along the support of its 10-week and 20-week moving averages since mid-February 2006. During this time frame, the equity has suffered only four weekly closes below both of these trendlines. Overall, this combination of growing pessimism against the stock’s strong technical backdrop has bullish implications from a contrarian perspective. As traders shed their short positions and jump on the stock’s bandwagon, the equity should enjoy a nice boost in buying pressure. With options players seemingly unwilling to relent in their pursuit of bullishly oriented calls, and room for things to degrade even further on the analyst front, MOT finds itself in a spot of trouble. Add to this the equity's failing health on the technical front, and you have the makings for a nice short position that could make a nice addition to your portfolio. 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. 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. Thanks for reading, best of luck in your trading! To learn more about the Most Active Call Options 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: Beris (Rank #15 with $139,686) MY PRECIOUS SHINES AGAIN (HL) Read More or Comment on this post. Java J >> JAVA’S MARKET MUSINGS #21 << Read More or Comment on this post. LesterMajkowicz (Rank #14 with $143,599) MY PARTIAL LIST OF METAL STOCKS 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. 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 Rank 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! 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. | |||||||||
- Latest News
- Most Popular
- Roundtable Top Picks of the Week
- The Mega-Rally Rolls On
- RTI: Prediction Contest: S&P 500 on Dec. 31st
- Industry Rank Analysis: Shifting Into Overdrive
- Biotechnology ETF Investing 101
- 3 Dividend Stocks at Reasonable Prices
- RTI: Are You Doing the Elon Musk Trade?
- Buy These ETFs to Profit from "Sector Rotation"
- Options Strategies & the Zacks Rank
- AWS 5/20: The Fed In Focus This Week
- PFP 5/20: Will We Touch 1700?
Recent Quotes
| No Recent Quote currently available |
My Portfolio
|
My Portfolio Tracker One of the most important steps you can take today is to set up your portfolio tracker on Zacks.com. Once you do, you'll be notified of major events affecting your stocks and/or funds with daily email alerts. Set yours up today. |
Zacks #1 Stocks on the Move 05/20/2013
| Company Name | Symbol | %Change |
|---|---|---|
| ORBOTECH LTD | ORBK | 10.86% |
| SONIC FOUNDR | SOFO | 9.45% |
| VIPSHOP HOLD | VIPS | 9.20% |
| RENEWABLE EN | REGI | 8.98% |
| EAGLE BULK S | EGLE | 7.84% |
Quick Links
Resources
Client Support
Zacks Research is Reported On:
Zacks Investment Research
is an A+ Rated BBB
Accredited Business.
Copyright 2013 Zacks Investment Research
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.
Visit performance for information about the performance numbers displayed above.
NYSE and AMEX data is at least 20 minutes delayed. NASDAQ data is at least 15 minutes delayed.