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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Banner, Amazon.com, BJ's, athenahealth and BioTelemetry
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL –August 16, 2018 – 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: Banner Corporation (BANR - Free Report) , Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) , BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (BJRI - Free Report) , athenahealth, Inc. and BioTelemetry, Inc. (BEAT - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:
Bull Run Set to Become the Longest in History: 5 Winners
The U.S. stock market is about to mark the longest stretch of the bull run after a grueling slump following the Great Recession. Since then, stocks have scaled new heights on the back of encouraging fundamental traits, including a tighter labor market, higher income and upbeat consumer sentiments. Solid corporate earnings and the Republican tax cut also added to the rally, while rate hike, inflation and Turkish lira crisis failed to impede the upward movement.
This calls for investing in some rock-solid stocks that have not only outperformed in the current bull market but also have scope to scale higher.
Stock Market About to Make History
Come Aug 22, the current bull market in U.S. stocks will become the longest on record, and optimistic analysts are predicting that it has miles to go before it rests. The bull market, in the last decade, has survived a slew of financial and political upheavals and elevated valuations, partly due to the Fed’s accommodative monetary policy.
Some market pundits, however, may argue that the Fed has now shifted to a tighter monetary policy, prompting them to predict an imminent demise of the bull run. But, that isn’t going to happen. The U.S. market still has plenty of upside. The underlying strength in the market, courtesy of a solid labor market, improving consumer confidence and robust earnings, is expected to propel stocks higher for at least another year.
Signs of any recession aren’t haunting the broader markets either. The previous three recessions were preceded by an annual wage growth of 4%. This time around, however, wages are growing at 2.7% year over year, indicating that inflation is still under control. Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index has also turned negative ahead of each and every recession dating back to 1970s. But, now, the index has risen an impressive 5.8% year over year.
Some popular adages such as “sell in May and go away” are turning on their heads. After all, the S&P 500 has defied such convention and surged nearly 7% so far since the beginning of May. To top it, the broader index has ended in the green for the month of April, May, June and July of this year, a phenomenon that has happened in only 10 other years since 1950. Given such bullish trends, Stephen Suttmeier, technical research analyst at Bank of America, believes that the S&P 500 could test 3,000 as early as 2019.
Investors Haven’t Been This Bullish on U.S. Stocks Since 2015
Fund managers of Bank of America, in fact, added that allocations to U.S. stocks climbed 10 percentage points to a net of 19% overweight, the highest since January 2015. This makes America the most-popular region to invest in for the first time in five years.
While FAANG and BAT stocks remained the most popular trade, a net 67% of those surveyed said that the United States was the most favorable region due to better corporate earnings results. Total second-quarter earnings of 381 S&P 500 members reported so far are up 25% from the same period last year on 10.4% higher revenues, with 80.1% beating EPS estimates, and 73.8% surpassing revenue estimates.
Turkey Crisis Eases for Now
Turkey’s currency crisis, by the way, that plagued the markets for quite some time has abated to some extent. Trump’s approval on higher tariffs on imports from Turkey had ripped the Turkish financial markets, sending lira into a freefall. This, in turn, increased the risk of default on foreign-currency loans. Banks, having substantial exposure to Turkey, are thus under tremendous pressure.
But, Turkey’s central bank has pledged to provide liquidity to the banking sector. The central bank will provide more breathing space to banks by trimming foreign currency reserve requirements. Investors are definitely finding some comfort from such news, with lira up more than 5% against the U.S. dollar at present, with one dollar buying 6.356 lira compared with 6.884 late Aug 13, in New York.
Top 5 Gainers
Banking on such positives, we have selected five solid stocks that have outdone in the current bull market and have scope to gain further. These stocks flaunt a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Banner Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Banner Bank and Islanders Bank, which provides commercial banking and financial products and services to individuals, businesses and public sector entities primarily in the United States. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 4.2% in the last 60 days. The stock’s expected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 25% and 23.8%, respectively. The company has given a superb return of 246.1% in the past 10 years.
Amazon.com, Inc. engages in the retail sale of consumer products and subscriptions in North America and internationally. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has surged 38.8% in the last 60 days. The stock’s expected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 517.3% and 279.6%, respectively. The company has given a whopping return of 1,396% in the past decade.
BJ's Restaurants, Inc. owns and operates casual dining restaurants in the United States. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has increased 6.5% in the last 60 days. The stock’s expected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 40% and 50.4%, respectively. The company has given a stellar return of 322% in the past decade.
athenahealth, Inc. provides network-based medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, care coordination, and population health services for medical groups and health systems. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings moved up nearly 3% in the last 60 days. The stock’s expected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 75% and 67.3%, respectively. The company has given a promising return of 292.8% in the past 10 years.
BioTelemetry, Inc. provides cardiac and mobile blood glucose monitoring, centralized medical imaging, and original equipment manufacturing services for the healthcare and clinical research industries. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings jumped 10.5% in the last 60 days. The stock’s expected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 93.8% and 51.6%, respectively. The company has given a solid return of 681.3% in the past decade.
Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside?
Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana.
Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look.
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.
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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Banner, Amazon.com, BJ's, athenahealth and BioTelemetry
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL –August 16, 2018 – 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: Banner Corporation (BANR - Free Report) , Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) , BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (BJRI - Free Report) , athenahealth, Inc. and BioTelemetry, Inc. (BEAT - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:
Bull Run Set to Become the Longest in History: 5 Winners
The U.S. stock market is about to mark the longest stretch of the bull run after a grueling slump following the Great Recession. Since then, stocks have scaled new heights on the back of encouraging fundamental traits, including a tighter labor market, higher income and upbeat consumer sentiments. Solid corporate earnings and the Republican tax cut also added to the rally, while rate hike, inflation and Turkish lira crisis failed to impede the upward movement.
This calls for investing in some rock-solid stocks that have not only outperformed in the current bull market but also have scope to scale higher.
Stock Market About to Make History
Come Aug 22, the current bull market in U.S. stocks will become the longest on record, and optimistic analysts are predicting that it has miles to go before it rests. The bull market, in the last decade, has survived a slew of financial and political upheavals and elevated valuations, partly due to the Fed’s accommodative monetary policy.
Some market pundits, however, may argue that the Fed has now shifted to a tighter monetary policy, prompting them to predict an imminent demise of the bull run. But, that isn’t going to happen. The U.S. market still has plenty of upside. The underlying strength in the market, courtesy of a solid labor market, improving consumer confidence and robust earnings, is expected to propel stocks higher for at least another year.
Signs of any recession aren’t haunting the broader markets either. The previous three recessions were preceded by an annual wage growth of 4%. This time around, however, wages are growing at 2.7% year over year, indicating that inflation is still under control. Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index has also turned negative ahead of each and every recession dating back to 1970s. But, now, the index has risen an impressive 5.8% year over year.
Some popular adages such as “sell in May and go away” are turning on their heads. After all, the S&P 500 has defied such convention and surged nearly 7% so far since the beginning of May. To top it, the broader index has ended in the green for the month of April, May, June and July of this year, a phenomenon that has happened in only 10 other years since 1950. Given such bullish trends, Stephen Suttmeier, technical research analyst at Bank of America, believes that the S&P 500 could test 3,000 as early as 2019.
Investors Haven’t Been This Bullish on U.S. Stocks Since 2015
Fund managers of Bank of America, in fact, added that allocations to U.S. stocks climbed 10 percentage points to a net of 19% overweight, the highest since January 2015. This makes America the most-popular region to invest in for the first time in five years.
While FAANG and BAT stocks remained the most popular trade, a net 67% of those surveyed said that the United States was the most favorable region due to better corporate earnings results. Total second-quarter earnings of 381 S&P 500 members reported so far are up 25% from the same period last year on 10.4% higher revenues, with 80.1% beating EPS estimates, and 73.8% surpassing revenue estimates.
Turkey Crisis Eases for Now
Turkey’s currency crisis, by the way, that plagued the markets for quite some time has abated to some extent. Trump’s approval on higher tariffs on imports from Turkey had ripped the Turkish financial markets, sending lira into a freefall. This, in turn, increased the risk of default on foreign-currency loans. Banks, having substantial exposure to Turkey, are thus under tremendous pressure.
But, Turkey’s central bank has pledged to provide liquidity to the banking sector. The central bank will provide more breathing space to banks by trimming foreign currency reserve requirements. Investors are definitely finding some comfort from such news, with lira up more than 5% against the U.S. dollar at present, with one dollar buying 6.356 lira compared with 6.884 late Aug 13, in New York.
Top 5 Gainers
Banking on such positives, we have selected five solid stocks that have outdone in the current bull market and have scope to gain further. These stocks flaunt a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Banner Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Banner Bank and Islanders Bank, which provides commercial banking and financial products and services to individuals, businesses and public sector entities primarily in the United States. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 4.2% in the last 60 days. The stock’s expected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 25% and 23.8%, respectively. The company has given a superb return of 246.1% in the past 10 years.
Amazon.com, Inc. engages in the retail sale of consumer products and subscriptions in North America and internationally. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has surged 38.8% in the last 60 days. The stock’s expected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 517.3% and 279.6%, respectively. The company has given a whopping return of 1,396% in the past decade.
BJ's Restaurants, Inc. owns and operates casual dining restaurants in the United States. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has increased 6.5% in the last 60 days. The stock’s expected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 40% and 50.4%, respectively. The company has given a stellar return of 322% in the past decade.
athenahealth, Inc. provides network-based medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, care coordination, and population health services for medical groups and health systems. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings moved up nearly 3% in the last 60 days. The stock’s expected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 75% and 67.3%, respectively. The company has given a promising return of 292.8% in the past 10 years.
BioTelemetry, Inc. provides cardiac and mobile blood glucose monitoring, centralized medical imaging, and original equipment manufacturing services for the healthcare and clinical research industries. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings jumped 10.5% in the last 60 days. The stock’s expected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 93.8% and 51.6%, respectively. The company has given a solid return of 681.3% in the past decade.
Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside?
Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana.
Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look.
See the pot trades we're targeting>>
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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 http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.