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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Toro, S&P Global, Broadridge Financial Solutions and Primerica

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – Dec 20, 2017 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Toro Company (TTC - Free Report) , S&P Global, Inc. (SPGI - Free Report) , Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (BR - Free Report) and Primerica, Inc. (PRI - Free Report) .

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Add These 4 GARP Stocks to Your Portfolio for Better Returns

Growth at a reasonable price or GARP is an excellent way for investors to make some quick gains. This strategy helps investors gain exposure to stocks that have impressive prospects and are trading at a discount.

The GARP approach leads to the identification of stocks that are priced below the market or any reasonable target determined by fundamental analysis. These stocks also have solid prospects in terms of cash flow, revenues, earnings per share (EPS) and so on.

That means a portfolio created on the basis of GARP strategy is expected to have stocks that offer the best of both value and growth investing.

Growth Metrics

Strong earnings growth and solid prospects are the main concepts that GARP investors borrow from the growth investing strategy. However, instead of super-normal growth rates, picking stocks with a more stable and reasonable growth rate is a preferred tactic of GARP investors. Hence, growth rates between 10% and 20% are considered ideal under the strategy.

Another growth metric that is considered by both growth and GARP investors is return on equity (ROE). GARP investors look for strong and higher ROE compared to the industry average to identify superior stocks. Moreover, stocks with positive cash flow find precedence under the GARP plan.

Value Metrics

GARP investing gives priority to one of the popular value metrics – price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. Though this investing style picks stocks with higher P/E ratios compared to value investors, it avoids companies with extremely high P/E ratios. Moreover, the price-to-book value (P/B) ratio is another value metric that is considered.

Using the GARP principle, we have run a screen to identify stocks that should offer solid returns in the near term.

Screening Parameters

Along with the criteria discussed in the above section, we have considered a favorable Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy).

Last 5-year EPS & projected 3–5 year EPS growth rates between 10% and 20% (Strong EPS growth history and prospects ensure improving business.)

ROE (over the past 12 months) greater than the industry average (Higher ROE compared to the industry average indicates superior stocks.)

P/E and P/B ratios less than M-industry average (P/E and P/B ratios less than that of the industry indicates that the stocks are undervalued.)

These few criteria have narrowed down the universe of over 7,700 stocks to only four.

Here are four stocks that made it through the screen:

The Toro Company is a leading worldwide provider of innovative solutions for the outdoor environment, including turf, snow and ground engaging equipment and irrigation and outdoor lighting solutions. The company has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 7.4% and carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks.

S&P Global, Inc. is a provider of ratings, benchmarks, analytics and data to the capital and commodity markets. It has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 11.1% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. is a leading global provider of technology-based outsourcing solutions to the financial services industry. It has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 12.8% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Primerica, Inc. provides financial products and services. It assists its clients in meeting their needs for term life insurance, which it underwrites, and mutual funds, variable annuities and other financial products, which it distributes primarily on behalf of third parties. It has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 1% and a Zacks Rank #2.

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Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1 Stock of the Day pick for free.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.