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Zacks.com featured highlights include: Boise Cascade, Photronics, HomeStreet, Daqo New Energy and EPAM Systems

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 23, 2021 – Stocks in this week’s article are Boise Cascade Company (BCC - Free Report) , Photronics, Inc. (PLAB - Free Report) , HomeStreet, Inc. (HMST - Free Report) , Daqo New Energy Corp. (DQ - Free Report) and EPAM Systems, Inc. (EPAM - Free Report) . 

Buy These 5 Low-Leverage Stocks to Keep Your Investments Safe

Investors often go for stocks exhibiting solid growth history but miss their debt level, which can be detrimental for their future growth if exorbitant. So, if safe investment is your goal, then go for low-leverage stocks like Boise Cascade, Photronics, HomeStreet, Daqo New Energy and EPAM Systems.  

For those not familiar with the term, leverage refers to the use of exogenous funds by companies to run their operations smoothly and expand the same. Now, companies can obtain these exogenous funds either through equity financing or debt financing.

Statistically, debt financing is preferred over equity because of its easy and cheap availability.

However, debt financing has its share of drawbacks. Particularly, it is desirable only as long as it successfully generates a higher rate of return compared to the interest rate. So, to avoid considerable losses in your portfolio, one should always avoid companies that resort to exorbitant debt financing.

Therefore, the crux of safe investment lies in choosing a company that is not overburdened with debt as a debt-free stock is almost impossible to find.  

To identify such stocks, historically several leverage ratios have been developed to measure the amount of debt a company bears and the debt-to-equity ratio is one of the most common ratios.

Analyzing Debt/Equity

Debt-to-Equity Ratio = Total Liabilities/Shareholders’ Equity

This metric is a liquidity ratio that indicates the amount of financial risk a company bears. A company with a lower debt-to-equity ratio shows improved solvency for a company.

With the entire third-quarter earnings season behind us, investors must be eyeing stocks that have exhibited solid earnings growth in the recent past. But if a stock bears a high debt-to-equity ratio, in times of economic downturns, its so-called booming earnings picture might turn into a nightmare.

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/1842220/buy-these-5-low-leverage-stocks-to-keep-your-investments-safe

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

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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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