Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Zacks.com featured highlights include: Shoe Carnival, Arrow, Lithia, Grand Canyon Education and Intuit

Read MoreHide Full Article

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – June 20, 2018 - Stocks in this week’s article Shoe Carnival, Inc. (SCVL - Free Report) , Arrow Electronics, Inc. (ARW - Free Report) , Lithia Motors, Inc. (LAD - Free Report) , Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (LOPE - Free Report) and Intuit Inc. (INTU - Free Report) .

These 5 Stocks Flaunt Attractive Interest Coverage Ratios

You can simply arrive at a decision to Buy or Sell a particular stock by looking at its sales and earnings numbers. But such a strategy does not always guarantee superior returns. A critical analysis of the company’s financial background is always required for a better investment decision. 

A company’s fundamentals should be sound enough to meet its financial obligations. This can be judged with coverage ratios — the higher these are the more efficient an enterprise will be in meeting its financial obligations. Here we have discussed one such ratio — the Interest Coverage Ratio.

Interest Coverage Ratio = Earnings before Interest & Taxes (EBIT) divided by Interest Expense.

Why Interest Coverage Ratio?

Interest Coverage Ratio is used to determine how effectively a company can pay the interest charged on its debt.

Debt, which is crucial for most of the companies to finance operations, comes at a cost called interest. Interest expense has a direct bearing on the profitability of a company and the company’s creditworthiness depends on how effectively it meets its interest obligations. Therefore, Interest Coverage Ratio is one of the important criteria to factor in before making any investment decision.

Interest Coverage Ratio suggests the number of times the interest could be paid from earnings and also gauges the margin of safety a firm carries for paying interest.

An interest coverage ratio lower than 1.0 implies that the company is unable to fulfill its interest obligations and could default on repaying debt. A company that is capable of generating earnings well above its interest expense can withstand financial hardship. Definitely, one should also track the company’s past performance to determine whether the interest coverage ratio has improved or worsened over a period of time.

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/308366/these-5-stocks-flaunt-attractive-interest-coverage-ratio

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.

About Screen of the Week

Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine.  But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has more than doubled the market from 1988 through 2016. Its average gain has been a stellar +25% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>.

Follow us on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/ZacksInvestmentResearch

Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.

Contact: Jim Giaquinto

Company: Zacks.com

Phone: 312-265-9268

Email: pr@zacks.com

Visit: www.Zacks.com

Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.

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 http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.