Investors seek growth stocks to capitalize on above-average growth in financials that help these securities grab the market's attention and produce exceptional returns. But finding a great growth stock is not easy at all.
By their very nature, these stocks carry above-average risk and volatility. Moreover, if a company's growth story is over or nearing its end, betting on it could lead to significant loss.
However, it's pretty easy to find cutting-edge growth stocks with the help of the Zacks Growth Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which looks beyond the traditional growth attributes to analyze a company's real growth prospects.
Our proprietary system currently recommends Seagate (STX - Free Report) as one such stock. This company not only has a favorable Growth Score, but also carries a top Zacks Rank.
Research shows that stocks carrying the best growth features consistently beat the market. And returns are even better for stocks that possess the combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy).
Here are three of the most important factors that make the stock of this electronic storage maker a great growth pick right now.
Earnings Growth
Earnings growth is arguably the most important factor, as stocks exhibiting exceptionally surging profit levels tend to attract the attention of most investors. And for growth investors, double-digit earnings growth is definitely preferable, and often an indication of strong prospects (and stock price gains) for the company under consideration.
While the historical EPS growth rate for Seagate is 5.8%, investors should actually focus on the projected growth. The company's EPS is expected to grow 46.4% this year, crushing the industry average, which calls for EPS growth of 25.4%.
Impressive Asset Utilization Ratio
Growth investors often overlook asset utilization ratio, also known as sales-to-total-assets (S/TA) ratio, but it is an important feature of a real growth stock. This metric shows how efficiently a firm is utilizing its assets to generate sales.
Right now, Seagate has an S/TA ratio of 1.22, which means that the company gets $1.22 in sales for each dollar in assets. Comparing this to the industry average of 0.62, it can be said that the company is more efficient.
In addition to efficiency in generating sales, sales growth plays an important role. And Seagate is well positioned from a sales growth perspective too. The company's sales are expected to grow 10.7% this year versus the industry average of 8%.
Promising Earnings Estimate Revisions
Superiority of a stock in terms of the metrics outlined above can be further validated by looking at the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is of course favorable here. Empirical research shows that there is a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
The current-year earnings estimates for Seagate have been revising upward. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has surged 13.3% over the past month.
Bottom Line
While the overall earnings estimate revisions have made Seagate a Zacks Rank #1 stock, it has earned itself a Growth Score of B based on a number of factors, including the ones discussed above.
You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
This combination positions Seagate well for outperformance, so growth investors may want to bet on it.
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Investors seek growth stocks to capitalize on above-average growth in financials that help these securities grab the market's attention and produce exceptional returns. But finding a great growth stock is not easy at all.
By their very nature, these stocks carry above-average risk and volatility. Moreover, if a company's growth story is over or nearing its end, betting on it could lead to significant loss.
However, it's pretty easy to find cutting-edge growth stocks with the help of the Zacks Growth Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which looks beyond the traditional growth attributes to analyze a company's real growth prospects.
Our proprietary system currently recommends Seagate (STX - Free Report) as one such stock. This company not only has a favorable Growth Score, but also carries a top Zacks Rank.
Research shows that stocks carrying the best growth features consistently beat the market. And returns are even better for stocks that possess the combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy).
Here are three of the most important factors that make the stock of this electronic storage maker a great growth pick right now.
Earnings Growth
Earnings growth is arguably the most important factor, as stocks exhibiting exceptionally surging profit levels tend to attract the attention of most investors. And for growth investors, double-digit earnings growth is definitely preferable, and often an indication of strong prospects (and stock price gains) for the company under consideration.
While the historical EPS growth rate for Seagate is 5.8%, investors should actually focus on the projected growth. The company's EPS is expected to grow 46.4% this year, crushing the industry average, which calls for EPS growth of 25.4%.
Impressive Asset Utilization Ratio
Growth investors often overlook asset utilization ratio, also known as sales-to-total-assets (S/TA) ratio, but it is an important feature of a real growth stock. This metric shows how efficiently a firm is utilizing its assets to generate sales.
Right now, Seagate has an S/TA ratio of 1.22, which means that the company gets $1.22 in sales for each dollar in assets. Comparing this to the industry average of 0.62, it can be said that the company is more efficient.
In addition to efficiency in generating sales, sales growth plays an important role. And Seagate is well positioned from a sales growth perspective too. The company's sales are expected to grow 10.7% this year versus the industry average of 8%.
Promising Earnings Estimate Revisions
Superiority of a stock in terms of the metrics outlined above can be further validated by looking at the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is of course favorable here. Empirical research shows that there is a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
The current-year earnings estimates for Seagate have been revising upward. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has surged 13.3% over the past month.
Bottom Line
While the overall earnings estimate revisions have made Seagate a Zacks Rank #1 stock, it has earned itself a Growth Score of B based on a number of factors, including the ones discussed above.
You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
This combination positions Seagate well for outperformance, so growth investors may want to bet on it.
Free Report – The Bitcoin Profit Phenomenon
Zacks Investment Research has released a Special Report to help you pursue massive profits from the world’s first and largest decentralized form of money.
No guarantees for the future, but in the past three presidential election years, Bitcoin’s returns were as follows: 2012 +272.4%, 2016 +161.1%, and 2020 +302.8%.
Zacks predicts another significant surge. Click below for Bitcoin: A Tumultuous Yet Resilient History.
Download Now – Today It’s FREE >>
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