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Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: Everi Holdings, Avis Budget Group and HeadHunter Group

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 1, 2021 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses Business Services including Everi Holdings, Inc. (EVRI - Free Report) , Avis Budget Group, Inc. (CAR - Free Report) and HeadHunter Group PLC (HHR - Free Report) .

Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/1756029/3-top-stocks-from-the-thriving-business-services-industry

Economic recovery leading to rise in manufacturing and service activities, along with the increased technology adoption and success of the work-from-home trend, is enabling the Zacks Business-Services industry to support a growing demand environment.

Prudent growth strategies, innovation and technology enhancements are helping Everi Holdings, Avis Budget Group and HeadHunter Group to sail through the ongoing pandemic.

About the Industry

The Zacks Business-Services industry comprises companies that offer a range of services, including specialty rental, supply-chain management, electronic commerce, technology, document management, digital audience, data, voice, analytical, and business transformation among others. The pandemic will continue to change the way industry players have conducted businesses and delivered services so far.

The key focus within the industry is currently on channelizing money and efforts toward more effective operational components, such as technology, digital transformation, data-driven decision-making and enhanced cybersecurity. To position themselves suitably in the post-pandemic era, service providers are increasing their efforts toward formulating and reassessing strategic initiatives, identifying sources of demand and targeting end markets.

What's Shaping the Future of the Business Services Industry?

Economic Recovery: The industry is a major beneficiary of manufacturing and service activities which, in turn, are dependent on economic health. Notably, a steady economic recovery is evident from the latest first-quarter 2021 GDP number, which according to the "third" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, increased at an annual rate of 6.4% compared with the 4.3% increase in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded 0.5% from April to May, as the Manufacturing PMI measured by Institute for Supply Management (ISM) touched 61.2%, clocking the 12th consecutive month of expansion. Non-manufacturing activities clocked 1.3% growth from April to May, as the Services PMI measured by ISM touched the all-time high of 64% and registered the 12th consecutive month of expansion.

Demand Stability: The industry is mature with demand for services being in good shape over time. Revenues, income and cash flows are anticipated to steadily make way to the pre-pandemic healthy levels, helping most industry players payout stable dividends.

Relaxing Immigration Restrictions: Higher talent costs due to a competitive talent market, especially under the Trump-era restrictions on immigration, have been a headwind for the industry. However, President Joe Biden's ongoing moves to lift the Trump-era ban on legal immigration will help service providers thrive with increased flow of foreign talent.

Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Strong Prospects

The Business-Services industry is housed within the broader Business Services sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #118, which places it in the top 47% of more than 250 Zacks industries.

The group's Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates underperformance in the near term. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Before we present a few stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, let's take a look at the industry's recent stock-market performance and current valuation.

Industry Underperforms Sector and the S&P 500

Over the past year, the Zacks Business Services industry has underperformed the S&P 500 composite and the broader sector.

While the industry has gained 4.2%, the S&P 500 composite has rallied 42.7% and the broader sector 4.6%.

Industry's Current Valuation

On the basis of the forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, which is commonly used for valuing business-services stocks, the industry is currently trading at 30.71 compared with the S&P 500's 21.85 and the sector's 30.56.

Over the past five years, the industry has traded as high as 30.71X, as low as 19.04X and at the median of 21.1X.

3 Service Stocks to Bet On

We are presenting three stocks that currently carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and are well poised to grow in the near term. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Everi Holdings: The company is a provider of entertainment and technology solutions for casino and digital gaming. It is currently benefiting from its organic growth initiatives and ongoing recovery in the gaming space. While continued focus on improvement of operating efficiency and product innovation is aiding the bottom line, the top line is gaining from investments in development of popular games and digital solutions.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 EPS has moved more than 100% north in 60 days' time. Shares of the company have rallied a whopping 274% in the past year.

Avis Budget Group: The company is a provider of car and truck rentals, car sharing, and ancillary services. It is currently focusing on boosting the top line through enhancing customer experience with the help of technology and improved service quality. Avis Budget is targeting margin improvement through controlling fixed and variable expenses.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current-year EPS moved up more than 100% in the past 60 days. The stock has skyrocketed 252% in a year's time.

HeadHunterGroup: The company operates an online recruitment platform globally. Its business is benefiting from increasing demand for online platforms and resultant addition of customers. The acquisition of cloud-based HCMsoftware provider Skillaz will likely help the company expand in the market for enterprise solutions.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the ongoing year's EPS has been revised 5% upward over the past 60 days. The stock has gained 78.5% over the past year.

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


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


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Avis Budget Group, Inc. (CAR) - free report >>

Everi Holdings Inc. (EVRI) - free report >>

HeadHunter Group PLC Sponsored ADR (HHR) - free report >>

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