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Zacks.com highlights: Steel Dynamics, Sprouts Farmers Market, Nucor, Big Lots and WellCare Health Plans

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 7, 2018 - Stocks in this week’s article include: Steel Dynamics, Inc. (STLD - Free Report) , Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (SFM - Free Report) , Nucor Corp. (NUE - Free Report) , Big Lots, Inc. (BIG - Free Report) and WellCare Health Plans, Inc. .

Screen of the Week of Zacks Investment Research:

Pick These 5 Stocks With Remarkable Interest Coverage Ratio

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.

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.

And that's what we're screening for today…

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/315993/pick-these-5-stocks-with-remarkable-interest-coverage-ratio

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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.

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 >>.

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