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Don't Risk Your Hard-Earned Money for These 4 Toxic Stocks

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Considering the current market mood filled with ambiguity, it’s as important to get rid of fundamentally weak toxic stocks as it is to invest in attractively valued companies possessing fundamental strength.

Toxic companies are usually characterized by huge debt loads and are vulnerable to external shocks. These stocks might illusively scale lofty heights in a given time period but the good show doesn’t last for these overblown toxic stocks, as their current price is not justified by their fundamental strength. Accurately identifying such bloated stocks and getting rid of them at the right time can protect your portfolio.

Overpricing of these toxic stocks can be attributed to either an irrational enthusiasm surrounding them or some serious fundamental drawbacks. If you own such bubble stocks for an inordinate period of time, you are bound to see massive erosion of wealth.

Nonetheless, if you can precisely spot such toxic stocks, you may gain by resorting to an investing strategy called short selling. This strategy allows one to sell a stock first and then buy it when the price falls. While short selling excels in bear markets, it typically loses money in bull markets.

So, just like identifying stocks with growth potential, pinpointing toxic stocks and offloading them at the right time is crucial to guard one’s portfolio against big losses or make profits by short selling them. Omnicell, Inc. (OMCL - Free Report) , Carnival Corporation (CCL - Free Report) , Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure PLC (AY - Free Report) and TFS Financial Corporation (TFSL - Free Report) are a few such toxic stocks.

Screening Criteria

Here is a winning strategy that will help you to identify overpriced toxic stocks:

Most recent Debt/Equity Ratio greater than the median industry average: High debt/equity ratio implies high leverage. High leverage indicates a huge level of repayment that the company has to make in connection with the debt amount.

P/E using a 12-month forward EPS estimate greater than 50: A very high forward P/E implies that a stock is highly overvalued.

% Change in F (1) and F (2) Estimate (12 Weeks) less than -5: Negative EPS estimate revision for this fiscal year and the next during the past 12 weeks points to analysts’ pessimism.

Zacks Rank More than #3 (Hold): We have not considered Buy/Hold-rated stocks that generally outperform or are in line with the market. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Here are four of the 22 toxic stocks that showed up on the screen:

Omnicell develops and markets end-to-end automation solutions for the medication-use process. These automation solutions contain medication and supply dispensing systems, central pharmacy storage, retrieval and packaging solutions, a bedside automation solution, a physician order management solution, a decision support application and a web-based procurement application. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Omnicell’s 2022 earnings per share implies a year-over-year decline of 28%. The consensus mark for 2023 EPS implies a decline of another 28% year over year. The consensus mark for 2023 EPS has moved south by 8 cents over the past 30 days. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

Carnival: Carnival operates as a cruise and vacation company. The company has operations in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia. The company’s cruise brand includes Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises, Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises and Cunard. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Carnival’s fiscal 2023 bottom line is pegged at a loss of 18 cents a share. The consensus mark for fiscal 2023 has deteriorated from earnings of 35 cents a share to loss of 18 cents a share over the past 90 days. The consensus mark for fiscal 2024 earnings has declined 14.1% in the past 90 days. CLL currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Atlantica Sustainable provides renewable energy solutions. The firm owns and operates natural gas fields, as well as offers transmission, transportation infrastructures and water assets solutions. Formerly known as Atlantica Yield plc, AY is based in Brentford, UK. Atlantica Sustainable fell short of earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, with the average negative surprise being 99%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Atlantica Yield’s 2022 bottom line is pegged at a loss of 31 cents a share and implies a year-over-year deterioration of 19.2%. The consensus mark for 2023 earnings has moved south by 57% over the past 30 days. AY currently carries a Zacks Rank #4.

TFS Financial is a federally chartered stock holding company that conducts its activities through its wholly owned subsidiaries. The line of business of the company is retail consumer banking, mortgage lending, deposit gathering and other financial services. The company's operating subsidiaries include Third Federal Savings and Loan Association of Cleveland and Third Capital, Inc. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TFS Financial’s fiscal 2023 earnings per share has declined by 2 cents over the past 30 days. The consensus mark for fiscal 2024 earnings implies a year-over-year decline of 7.4% and has moved south by 2 cents over the past 30 days. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #4.

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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.

Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available athttps://www.zacks.com/performance.

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