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Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: Western Union Company, MoneyGram International, Acacia Research, Fang Holdings and Core-Mark Holding Company
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – October 2, 2017 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Industry: Business Services, Part 3, including The Western Union Company (NYSE: (WU - Free Report) – Free Report), MoneyGram International Inc. (Nasdaq: – Free Report), Acacia Research Corp. (Nasdaq: (ACTG - Free Report) – Free Report), Fang Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: (SFUN - Free Report) – Free Report) and Core-Mark Holding Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: – Free Report).
Discussed below are some inherent challenges faced by the Business Services sector:
Continuous Spending on Research and Development: Importantly, consulting service providers need to stay abreast with the latest technologies through continuous spending on research and development. The performance of these providers can be hampered if they do not acclimatize to or adopt new services to cope with the latest developments.
Maintaining Skilled Workforce Involves High Costs: Since skilled workers are always in demand, there is a possibility of a high turnover rate in the sector. The training of unskilled workers or taking in new skilled workers increases operational costs, in turn affecting margins. This space needs to have a more skilled workforce to take advantage of technology that develops at a rapid pace.
Competition: Maintaining or increasing market share remains challenging for business service providers. As discussed earlier, the main business of one company can be a business service for another. So target customers for both may at times be the same.
Therefore, a business service provider needs to be adequately equipped to win over customers. While larger providers bank on the broad variety of service offerings and can effectively take up difficult ventures, relatively smaller players compete in an industry backed by specialized services.
Regulatory Hurdles: By virtue of having operations across the globe, service providers face regulatory hurdles and compliance-related issues. The Western Union Company (NYSE: (WU - Free Report) – Free Report) expects compliance costs to be at the higher end of 3.5 - 4% in 2017.
MoneyGram International Inc. (Nasdaq: – Free Report) is being probed by a federal grand jury in relation to its consumer anti-fraud and anti-money-laundering programs from 2003 to early 2009. The company is also involved in many other government investigations and litigations. Any adverse results might lead to potential liability against damages, which could put pressure on margins and cash flows.
Taking into consideration an unfavorable Zacks Rank, we prefer to avoid Acacia Research Corp. (Nasdaq: (ACTG - Free Report) – Free Report), Fang Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: (SFUN - Free Report) – Free Report) and Core-Mark Holding Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: – Free Report) carrying a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
The dearth of skilled labor in the business services sector can affect its prospects. Non-availability of quality workforce at a reasonable rate might increase overall operational costs.
In addition, the highly fragmented nature of the industry makes it difficult for such companies to set a distinct trend or predict a concrete future for it.
4 Stocks to Watch After the Massive Equifax Hack
Cybersecurity stocks spiked on recent news of a data breach affecting 143 million Americans. But which stocks are the best buy candidates right now? And what does the future hold for the cybersecurity industry?
Equifax is just the most recent victim. Computer hacking and identity theft are more common than ever. Zacks has just released Cybersecurity! An Investor’s Guide to inform Zacks.com readers about this $170 billion/year space. More importantly, it highlights 4 cybersecurity picks with strong profit potential.
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 nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year.See these high-potential stocks free >>.
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
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/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: Western Union Company, MoneyGram International, Acacia Research, Fang Holdings and Core-Mark Holding Company
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – October 2, 2017 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Industry: Business Services, Part 3, including The Western Union Company (NYSE: (WU - Free Report) – Free Report), MoneyGram International Inc. (Nasdaq: – Free Report), Acacia Research Corp. (Nasdaq: (ACTG - Free Report) – Free Report), Fang Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: (SFUN - Free Report) – Free Report) and Core-Mark Holding Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: – Free Report).
Industry: Business Services, Part 3
Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/130094/multiple-headwinds-pose-threats-to-business-services-stocks
Despite the positives in the Business Services, we cannot ignore the headwinds limiting the positives mentioned in “Will More Job Options Support Business Services Stocks?”
Discussed below are some inherent challenges faced by the Business Services sector:
Continuous Spending on Research and Development: Importantly, consulting service providers need to stay abreast with the latest technologies through continuous spending on research and development. The performance of these providers can be hampered if they do not acclimatize to or adopt new services to cope with the latest developments.
Maintaining Skilled Workforce Involves High Costs: Since skilled workers are always in demand, there is a possibility of a high turnover rate in the sector. The training of unskilled workers or taking in new skilled workers increases operational costs, in turn affecting margins. This space needs to have a more skilled workforce to take advantage of technology that develops at a rapid pace.
Competition: Maintaining or increasing market share remains challenging for business service providers. As discussed earlier, the main business of one company can be a business service for another. So target customers for both may at times be the same.
Therefore, a business service provider needs to be adequately equipped to win over customers. While larger providers bank on the broad variety of service offerings and can effectively take up difficult ventures, relatively smaller players compete in an industry backed by specialized services.
Regulatory Hurdles: By virtue of having operations across the globe, service providers face regulatory hurdles and compliance-related issues. The Western Union Company (NYSE: (WU - Free Report) – Free Report) expects compliance costs to be at the higher end of 3.5 - 4% in 2017.
MoneyGram International Inc. (Nasdaq: – Free Report) is being probed by a federal grand jury in relation to its consumer anti-fraud and anti-money-laundering programs from 2003 to early 2009. The company is also involved in many other government investigations and litigations. Any adverse results might lead to potential liability against damages, which could put pressure on margins and cash flows.
Taking into consideration an unfavorable Zacks Rank, we prefer to avoid Acacia Research Corp. (Nasdaq: (ACTG - Free Report) – Free Report), Fang Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: (SFUN - Free Report) – Free Report) and Core-Mark Holding Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: – Free Report) carrying a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
To Conclude
The dearth of skilled labor in the business services sector can affect its prospects. Non-availability of quality workforce at a reasonable rate might increase overall operational costs.
In addition, the highly fragmented nature of the industry makes it difficult for such companies to set a distinct trend or predict a concrete future for it.
4 Stocks to Watch After the Massive Equifax Hack
Cybersecurity stocks spiked on recent news of a data breach affecting 143 million Americans. But which stocks are the best buy candidates right now? And what does the future hold for the cybersecurity industry?
Equifax is just the most recent victim. Computer hacking and identity theft are more common than ever. Zacks has just released Cybersecurity! An Investor’s Guide to inform Zacks.com readers about this $170 billion/year space. More importantly, it highlights 4 cybersecurity picks with strong profit potential.
Get the new Investing Guide now>>
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 nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year.See these high-potential stocks free >>.
Get the full Report on WU - FREE
Get the full Report on MGI - FREE
Get the full Report on ACTG - FREE
Get the full Report on SFUN - FREE
Get the full Report on CORE - 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/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.