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Edwards Lifesciences, QIWI, Lowe's, The Home Depot and Amazon.com highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 24, 2017 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW Free Report) as the Bull of the Day QIWI plc (NASDAQ:(QIWI - Free Report) Free Report)as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Shares of Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW Free Report), The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD Free Report) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:(AMZN - Free Report) – Free Report).

Here is a synopsis of all three stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Edwards Lifesciences(NYSE:(EW - Free Report) Free Report), the $24 billion global leader in structural heart disease innovations, is once again a Zacks #1 Rank Strong Buy after reporting strong Q2 results and improved guidance for Q3 that prompted analysts to raise EPS estimates.  

Edwards Lifesciences’ second-quarter sales grew 10.9% to $841.8 million, beating the consensus. Underlying sales increased 15.3%, including the impact of German customers stocking shelves for additional inventory of the SAPIEN 3 valve in anticipation of a potential supply interruption resulting from recent intellectual property litigation.

Revenues were driven by considerable growth in the company's primary solution, the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) device, which, as the name implies, is a specialized collapsible valve that can be inserted into a patient's heart via a catheter, thus eliminating the need for major invasive surgery.

This innovation is especially welcome for older or at-risk heart patients whose doctors are concerned about the dangers of open heart surgery.

In 2011, the FDA approved the Sapien valve invented by Edwards as the first approved transcatheter aortic valve prosthesis.

By the end of 2015, nearly 55,000 procedures had been performed.

Bear:

QIWI plc (NASDAQ:(QIWI - Free Report) Free Report) is an $800 million provider of next generation payment services primarily in Russia. The company has an integrated network that enables payment services across physical, online and mobile channels.

The QIWI network enables merchants to accept cash and electronic payments from virtual wallets, and operates cash-collecting terminals and kiosks. QIWI plc is based in Moscow and went public in 2013.

The reason that QIWI is in the cellar of the Zacks Rank is that EPS estimates recently took a hit after a resurgence in the first half of the year.

In July, analysts began lowering estimates when the stock was still trading above $20. And that was when QIWI became a Zacks #4 Rank Sell.

In Q2, QIWI was a Zacks #1 Rank Strong Buy as the estimates moved up. If you had followed the Rank then, you would have caught the move in the stock from $17 to $25.

And last month, the Rank identified what many would have thought was a buying opportunity on the pullback to $20 as really a new sell signal. The new consensus EPS for 2017 of $1.11 represents negative "growth" of -13%, even while revenue estimates still reflect 19% growth to $198 million.


And while next year's EPS forecast of $1.44 would be 30% growth, investors should wait and watch for the estimates to turn back up before investing in QIWI.

The Zacks Rank will let you know.

Additional content:

Here’s Why Lowe’s (LOW - Free Report) Stock Fell Wednesday

Shares of Lowe’s (NYSE:LOWFree Report) fell 6% in morning trading on Wednesday after the company reported worse-than-expected second quarter fiscal 2017 results.

Lowe’s reported adjusted earnings of $1.57 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.62. The company also reported revenue of $19.495 billion, missing our estimate of $19.523 billion, although the company still grew 6.76% year-over-year.  

Lowe’s poor earnings contrast sharply with their rival The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HDFree Report). Home Depot has been one of the few retail stocks that had a great earnings report this fiscal quarter. The company beat our earnings estimates while its comparable store sales were up about 6.3% year-over-year. In comparison, Lowe’s said their comparable sales rose only 4.5%.

In order to improve sales, Lowe’s plans to increase the number of hours their employees work in order to provide additional customer service face-to-face. “We believe this is the right strategy to more fully capitalize on strong traffic trends in what we believe is a supportive macroeconomic backdrop for home improvement,” said Robert Niblock, Lowe’s CEO.

However, because workers will need to be paid more, the company’s bottom line will take a hit. Lowe’s has lowered its guidance for the full fiscal year to $4.20 to $4.30 a share, well below our estimate of $4.62 per share.

This strategy could pay off in the long run, though. Customer service remains a large incentive for customers to choose Lowe’s over online retailers, like Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZNFree Report), in order to get assistance on home improvements. “This is one category in retail where service really matters,” Brian Nagel, an analyst for Oppenheimer & Co., told CNBC this morning.

Lowe’s remains a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), with a VGM score of ‘A.’

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About the Bull and Bear of the Day

Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous analyst coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

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