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Zacks.com featured highlights include: ABM, Consol, AAR, United Natural and DXP

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – May 15, 2020 - Stocks in this week’s article are ABM Industries (ABM - Free Report) , Consol Energy (CEIX - Free Report) , AAR Corp. (AIR - Free Report) , United Natural Foods (UNFI - Free Report) and DXP Enterprises (DXPE - Free Report) .

5 Stocks in the Spotlight Post-Recent Broker Upgrades

That the coronavirus pandemic has dampened the earnings picture this season, which is in its last leg, is common knowledge. The latest earnings outlook indicates that total earnings of the S&P 500 participants who have reported first-quarter results so far are declined 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Even though all the 16 Zacks sectors are affected, a few like transportation bore the brunt severely. Evidently, total earnings of the S&P 500 transportation stocks plunged 58% year over year.

Although, the bleak scenario depicted above is enough to unsettle investors, it is also a fact that those who already put their money in the stock market will never want their investment to go down the drain by choosing stocks unwisely for their respective portfolios. To avoid such blunders and instead, select the winning picks even in the most trying times, investors should seek advice from brokers, who are deemed experts in the field of investing.

Brokers, irrespective of their types (sell-side, buy-side or independent), do a thorough research on the stocks covered by them. They have access to a lot more information on a company’s profile and its prospects than individual investors. To meet their goal, they dig deep into the publicly available financial documents apart from attending company conference calls and other presentations. 

Since brokers meticulously follow the stocks in their coverage, they revise their earnings estimates after carefully examining the pros and cons of an event for the concerned company. Naturally, their estimate revisions serve as a key determinant for the stock price. To take care of the earnings performance, we designed a screen based on improving analyst recommendations and upward estimate revisions over the last four weeks.

Consider the Top Line Too

However, designing a strategy based solely on the bottom line is unlikely to result in a winning strategy. Actually, according to many market watchers, a revenue beat is more commendable for a company than a mere earnings outperformance. To address the top-line issues, we included in our screen the price/sales ratio, which serves as a strong complementary valuation metric.

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/925237/5-stocks-in-the-spotlight-post-recent-broker-rating-upgrades

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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Contact: Jim Giaquinto

Company: Zacks.com

Phone: 312-265-9268

Email: pr@zacks.com

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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.

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