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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Advantest, United States Cellular and First Citizens BancShares
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – March 10, 2025 – 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: Advantest (ATEYY - Free Report) , United States Cellular (USM - Free Report) and First Citizens BancShares (FCNCA - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:
3 Top Stock Picks in March 2025 Landscape: Zacks Market Strategy
It's March 7th, 2025. The latest monthly Federal nonfarm jobs data is in hand.
Monthly Federal job additions are always the core U.S. and global macro fundamental, lifting or lowering earnings forecasts, across the broad S&P500 share price index.
We got +151K in job additions for FEB 2025, while the U.S. household unemployment rate ticked higher, from 4.0% to a still-frictional level of 4.1%. This has been in a narrow range of 4.0% to 4.2% since May 2024, which is nine months ago now.
Backward month revisions moved very little, as they were down -2K. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for DEC was revised up by +16K, from +307K to +323K, while the change for JAN was revised down by -18K, from +143K to +125K.
I didn't think forward-looking stock traders would be shocked after this week's monthly jobs report.
After a soft, short-lived lift, premarket U.S. index futures traded dead calm, in the aftermath of the solid FEB numbers, coming after a hard week's trading sell-off.
The reality of future DOGE job cuts, taken out of the Federal government, continued to cast a foreboding shadow over what was a decent FEB U.S. jobs report. In the FEB report, only a net -10K Federal jobs were shown as cuts.
Given everything we've seen in the market and historical labor and unemployment data, I expected we would see around +88K U.S. job additions, rather than the +170K jobs forecasted by the Wall Street economist consensus.
The private ADP payroll report, out on Wednesday, March 5th, did indeed show +77K private job additions.
Perhaps that happens at the Federal level next month?
We shall see.
I. What to Make of FEB's Federal Nonfarm Payroll Data?
According to recent data, the U.S. civilian labor force has seen an annual growth of around 2.1 million. The civilian labor force level in FEB 2025 was 170.4 million.
That means this: The U.S. economy needed to see a +175K number in Friday Federal nonfarm payroll number to be in a steady state U.S. economy. That is one near a long-term trend growth rate.
The last three months (NOV, DEC, JAN) averaged +236K job additions per month, while last 12 months averaged +168K a month. That shapes another measurement mark to gauge Friday's nonfarm payroll report. It is also a statistic in line with that +175K U.S. civilian labor force growth rate.
The economist consensus shows a +170K rate, which was in line with the simple average of the last year of data. Again, all in line, with one another.
However, last week's initial U.S. weekly unemployment claims came in at +222K. The week before last time was a higher +242K. The U.S. economy saw a similar level of claims was a one-off pop on Dec. 7th, 2024.
But a better high initial unemployment claims mark may be the two-month period across June 2024 to July 2024, where such a high claims mark stayed in play across time.
· In that period, June added +87K jobs. July added +88K jobs.
· That would be the most updated mark to position for Friday's FEB nonfarm jobs report: +88K.
What of the share markets? U.S. large-cap stocks have sold off over the last 3 months.
· The S&P500 is down -5.54% in the three months to March 7th, 2025.
· The tech/growth Nasdaq is down -8.87% in those three months, nearing a -10% correction mark.
· The Russell 2000 small cap index is down -13.76% the last three months.
Given the noted pullbacks in the more 'growth' driven Nasdaq and Russell 2000 indices, I would wager a good deal of this 'bad' news that may be forthcoming from DOGE is already well-priced in.
Now, read on, for a top-down dive into the latest Zacks Industry Rank data.
II. Here is the Zacks MAR 2025 Sector/Industry/Company Telescope
In this sub-section, I study the latest, short-term, MAR 2025 Zacks Industry Rankings.
A top-down strategist drill-down can identify specific share-picking opportunities.
These selected picks have a top Zacks Sector/Industry strength rating behind them.
Savvy stock traders use this screening tactic to secure a broad share market catalyst.
These Feb. 28th, 2025 Zacks Industry Ranks retained a lot of rank-order from last month.
Zacks Industry Ranks supplied two Attractive sectors: Info Tech and Communication Services.
· The growth gets enabled by "AI" data/cloud centers and ongoing tech mega-cap earnings strength, albeit in the face of a valuation pullback this month.
· Financials kept an Attractive rating. Energy rose to an Attractive rating (the surviving Trump trade).
· Data showed two Market Weight sectors: Consumer Discretionary and Utilities.
· There were three Unattractive Sectors: Health Care, Materials and Consumer Staples.
· One Very Unattractive Sector closed it out: Industrials.
Next, I list my top stock picks in the three top-ranked Zacks sectors.
(1) Info Tech rose to Very Attractive from Attractive. Semis and Misc. Tech led again.
Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY): Advantest
(2) Communications Services rose to Very Attractive from Attractive. Telco Equipment was the best. Again.
Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY): United States Cellular
Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY): First Citizens BancShares
(4) Energy rose to Attractive from an Unattractive rating. Oil/Gas E&P and Oil/Gas Pipelines looked the best.
(5) Consumer Discretionary stayed at Market Weight. Consumer Electronics and Media looked good.
(6) Utilities stayed at Market Weight. Utility – Gas Distribution looked the best. Again.
(7) Health Care stayed at Unattractive. Medical Products was the top-ranked area.
(8) Materials fell to Very Unattractive from Unattractive. Paper looked best. Again.
(9) Consumer Staples rose to Unattractive from Very Unattractive. Consumer Products – Misc. Staples was the strongest.
(10) Industrials stayed at Very Unattractive. Transport – Air looked strong. Again.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
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.
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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Advantest, United States Cellular and First Citizens BancShares
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – March 10, 2025 – 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: Advantest (ATEYY - Free Report) , United States Cellular (USM - Free Report) and First Citizens BancShares (FCNCA - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:
3 Top Stock Picks in March 2025 Landscape: Zacks Market Strategy
The following is an excerpt from Zacks Chief Strategist John Blank's full Mar Market Strategy report To access the full PDF, click here.
It's March 7th, 2025. The latest monthly Federal nonfarm jobs data is in hand.
Monthly Federal job additions are always the core U.S. and global macro fundamental, lifting or lowering earnings forecasts, across the broad S&P500 share price index.
We got +151K in job additions for FEB 2025, while the U.S. household unemployment rate ticked higher, from 4.0% to a still-frictional level of 4.1%. This has been in a narrow range of 4.0% to 4.2% since May 2024, which is nine months ago now.
Backward month revisions moved very little, as they were down -2K. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for DEC was revised up by +16K, from +307K to +323K, while the change for JAN was revised down by -18K, from +143K to +125K.
I didn't think forward-looking stock traders would be shocked after this week's monthly jobs report.
After a soft, short-lived lift, premarket U.S. index futures traded dead calm, in the aftermath of the solid FEB numbers, coming after a hard week's trading sell-off.
The reality of future DOGE job cuts, taken out of the Federal government, continued to cast a foreboding shadow over what was a decent FEB U.S. jobs report. In the FEB report, only a net -10K Federal jobs were shown as cuts.
Given everything we've seen in the market and historical labor and unemployment data, I expected we would see around +88K U.S. job additions, rather than the +170K jobs forecasted by the Wall Street economist consensus.
The private ADP payroll report, out on Wednesday, March 5th, did indeed show +77K private job additions.
Perhaps that happens at the Federal level next month?
We shall see.
I. What to Make of FEB's Federal Nonfarm Payroll Data?
According to recent data, the U.S. civilian labor force has seen an annual growth of around 2.1 million. The civilian labor force level in FEB 2025 was 170.4 million.
That means this: The U.S. economy needed to see a +175K number in Friday Federal nonfarm payroll number to be in a steady state U.S. economy. That is one near a long-term trend growth rate.
The last three months (NOV, DEC, JAN) averaged +236K job additions per month, while last 12 months averaged +168K a month. That shapes another measurement mark to gauge Friday's nonfarm payroll report. It is also a statistic in line with that +175K U.S. civilian labor force growth rate.
The economist consensus shows a +170K rate, which was in line with the simple average of the last year of data. Again, all in line, with one another.
However, last week's initial U.S. weekly unemployment claims came in at +222K. The week before last time was a higher +242K. The U.S. economy saw a similar level of claims was a one-off pop on Dec. 7th, 2024.
But a better high initial unemployment claims mark may be the two-month period across June 2024 to July 2024, where such a high claims mark stayed in play across time.
· In that period, June added +87K jobs. July added +88K jobs.
· That would be the most updated mark to position for Friday's FEB nonfarm jobs report: +88K.
What of the share markets? U.S. large-cap stocks have sold off over the last 3 months.
· The S&P500 is down -5.54% in the three months to March 7th, 2025.
· The tech/growth Nasdaq is down -8.87% in those three months, nearing a -10% correction mark.
· The Russell 2000 small cap index is down -13.76% the last three months.
Given the noted pullbacks in the more 'growth' driven Nasdaq and Russell 2000 indices, I would wager a good deal of this 'bad' news that may be forthcoming from DOGE is already well-priced in.
Now, read on, for a top-down dive into the latest Zacks Industry Rank data.
II. Here is the Zacks MAR 2025 Sector/Industry/Company Telescope
In this sub-section, I study the latest, short-term, MAR 2025 Zacks Industry Rankings.
A top-down strategist drill-down can identify specific share-picking opportunities.
These selected picks have a top Zacks Sector/Industry strength rating behind them.
Savvy stock traders use this screening tactic to secure a broad share market catalyst.
These Feb. 28th, 2025 Zacks Industry Ranks retained a lot of rank-order from last month.
Zacks Industry Ranks supplied two Attractive sectors: Info Tech and Communication Services.
· The growth gets enabled by "AI" data/cloud centers and ongoing tech mega-cap earnings strength, albeit in the face of a valuation pullback this month.
· Financials kept an Attractive rating. Energy rose to an Attractive rating (the surviving Trump trade).
· Data showed two Market Weight sectors: Consumer Discretionary and Utilities.
· There were three Unattractive Sectors: Health Care, Materials and Consumer Staples.
· One Very Unattractive Sector closed it out: Industrials.
Next, I list my top stock picks in the three top-ranked Zacks sectors.
(1) Info Tech rose to Very Attractive from Attractive. Semis and Misc. Tech led again.
Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY): Advantest
(2) Communications Services rose to Very Attractive from Attractive. Telco Equipment was the best. Again.
Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY): United States Cellular
(3) Financials stayed Attractive. Investment Banking & Brokering, Banks & Thrifts, & Finance looked best. Again.
Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY): First Citizens BancShares
(4) Energy rose to Attractive from an Unattractive rating. Oil/Gas E&P and Oil/Gas Pipelines looked the best.
(5) Consumer Discretionary stayed at Market Weight. Consumer Electronics and Media looked good.
(6) Utilities stayed at Market Weight. Utility – Gas Distribution looked the best. Again.
(7) Health Care stayed at Unattractive. Medical Products was the top-ranked area.
(8) Materials fell to Very Unattractive from Unattractive. Paper looked best. Again.
(9) Consumer Staples rose to Unattractive from Very Unattractive. Consumer Products – Misc. Staples was the strongest.
(10) Industrials stayed at Very Unattractive. Transport – Air looked strong. Again.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
See Stocks Free >>
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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.