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Dow and Louisiana-Pacific have been highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day
Read MoreHide Full Article
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – May 1, 2026 – Zacks Equity Research shares Dow Inc. (DOW - Free Report) as the Bull of the Day and Louisiana-Pacific (LPX - Free Report) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on ServiceNow (NOW - Free Report) , Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) and Salesforce (CRM - Free Report) .
Known for its cyclical but lucrative earnings potential, now appears to be an ideal time to buy Dow Inc. stock, which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and lands the Bull of the Day.
Dow, one of the world's largest materials science and chemical producers, is benefiting from major disruptions in the global chemical supply chain following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The commodity impact has extended well beyond crude oil, triggering a broad petrochemical supply shock that has tightened global inventories and pushed prices sharply higher.
Against this backdrop, Dow's stock has climbed more than 70% year to date and recently hit a 52-week high of $42 a share, with the momentum suggesting the potential for further gains.
How Dow Is Benefiting from Strait of Hormuz Disruptions
1. Petrochemical prices have jumped sharply, boosting Dow's margins
Dow's CEO Jim Fitterling has reported that the closure immediately tightened global supplies of ethylene, polyethylene, and naphtha, driving significant price increases. Fitterling noted a 10¢ per lb increase in March, another 30¢ in April, and 20¢ more expected in May, marking the strongest pricing uplift in more than a decade.
*Higher selling prices directly support Dow's revenue and earnings, especially in plastics and packaging materials.
2. Global supply constraints are boosting demand for U.S. exports
With Asia cut off from Middle Eastern feedstocks, U.S. producers like Dow are seeing stronger export demand, especially for polyethylene.
*The shift in trade flows increases Dow's market share and pricing power.
3. Dow's U.S. ethane-based production gives it a major cost advantage
Because U.S. petrochemical plants rely on ethane rather than naphtha, they are largely insulated from the feedstock shortages caused by the closure. Asian and European producers, by contrast, depend heavily on naphtha flowing through Hormuz. This has created a massive pricing gap, with the typical U.S.–Asia spread widening from under $500 per ton to over $1,200 per ton.
*This means Dow can sell into global markets at elevated prices while maintaining lower input costs, a significant competitive edge.
4. The supply shock is reshaping the industry in ways that favor Dow
The closure has forced 20% of global ethylene and petrochemical capacity offline and removed up to 40% of Asia's naphtha supply.
*This steepens the global cost curve, meaning high-cost producers struggle while low-cost players like Dow gain a structural advantage.
5. The disruption is long-lasting — extending Dow's pricing tailwind
Dow's CEO estimates it will take 250-275 days to clear the backlog even after the strait reopens, with petrochemicals being among the last categories to resume normal flow.
*This implies sustained elevated prices and tight supply through at least late 2026.
Soaring EPS Revisions
EPS revisions for Dow are soaring as analysts have sharply raised forward earnings expectations following the company's stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter last week and improved revenue forecast.
With Dow signaling a sign of operational recovery, FY26 EPS estimates have now skyrocketed to $2.37 from projections that called for an adjusted loss of $0.12 a share two months ago. Plus, FY27 EPS revisions have soared 129% in the last 60 days, from estimates of $0.75 to $1.72.
Dow's Attractive Valuation & Dividend Yield
Amid the compelling surge in EPS revisions, DOW is still trading at a reasonable 16X forward earnings multiple and at less than 1X forward sales.
Plus, it's noteworthy that Dow's top line is now expected to expand 8% in FY26, with FY27 sales projected to increase another 3% to $44.58 billion.
Even better, for income-oriented investors, Dow's generous 3.54% annual dividend yield has provided a built-in return while waiting for the company's earnings cycle to strengthen.
Bottom Line
Dow Inc. looks attractive right now because earnings expectations are rising, margins are improving due to global supply tightness, and its stock is still reasonably valued with an enticing dividend yield.
Trading near a 52-week low of $68 a share, Louisiana-Pacific's stock has fallen sharply in the last three months as analysts have started to cut price targets and warned of declining earnings in correlation with ongoing weakness in the oriented-strand-board (OSB) market.
OSB is an engineered wood product that drives much of LPX's profitability in the building materials space and is used in basic structural applications for sheathing, flooring, and roof decking.
Landing a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) and the Bear of the Day, it's noteworthy that LPX's Zacks Building Products-Wood Industry is currently in the bottom 7% of over 240 Zacks industries.
Unfortunately, LPX is standing out as a sore thumb in the industry, as one of the largest OSB producers in North America.
OSB Market Weakness
LPX's OSB segment is cyclical and tied to new home construction, repair/remodeling, and commodity wood-panel pricing.
While OSB prices remain well above pre-pandemic levels, analysts expect continued volatility tied to slower housing demand, rising energy prices, trade policies, and supply constraints. Ultimately, when housing starts soften, or OSB prices fall, LPX's revenue and margins contract.
Notably, LPX's OSB EBITDA fell from $298M in 2024 to just $7M in 2025, a 98% decline, due entirely to market-wide OSB price drops, not by its pricing decisions. This is consistent with the Producer Price Index (PPI) decline for Waferboard and OSB as illustrated below: when the PPI falls, OSB producers' margins fall across the board.
Declining EPS Revisions
Suggesting more short-term volatility is ahead for LPX is that FY26 EPS revisions have now fallen 19% in the last 60 days from estimates of $3.35 to $2.70.
Although FY27 EPS is projected to increase to $4.72, estimates are now down over 1% in the last two months from projections of $4.80.
Bottom Line
Investors may want to avoid Louisiana-Pacific right now because the company faces unfavorable commodity exposure, cyclical demand risk, and a long list of operational and macroeconomic vulnerabilities that could further pressure earnings and its stock.
Additional content:
ServiceNow Benefits from Rich Partner Base: More Upside Ahead?
ServiceNow is benefiting significantly from its rich partner ecosystem, which acts as a core growth engine by enhancing product capabilities, accelerating AI adoption and enabling expansion across multiple industry verticals. The company's collaborations with leading technology providers, such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, allow seamless integration of advanced AI models into its platform. This positions ServiceNow as a central "AI control tower" that orchestrates workflows, agents and enterprise data with strong governance and security.
Partnerships with major enterprise players like Microsoft, Amazon, NVIDIA and IBM strengthen its infrastructure, cloud and AI capabilities, enabling scalable deployment of AI-driven workflows across industries. ServiceNow is also expanding its distribution reach through alliances with firms such as Carahsoft, which opens access to thousands of resellers and enhances penetration into public sector and regulated markets.
Industry-specific collaborations are further driving vertical expansion. Partnerships with NTT DOCOMO and StarHub support telecom innovation, while alliances with Five9, Genesys and Zoom enhance capabilities in customer experience and digital engagement. Collaborations with Visa and Fujitsu deepen its footprint in financial services and global enterprises.
These partnerships, combined with continuous platform innovation, AI-native offerings and strategic acquisitions, are key growth drivers. They enable ServiceNow to expand its total addressable market, accelerate enterprise AI adoption and penetrate verticals, such as telecom, financial services, public sector and logistics, reinforcing its position as a leading enterprise workflow and AI platform. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 revenues is pegged at $16.1 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 21.8%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate forecasts revenue growth of nearly 22% in 2026, underscoring strong visibility into sustained top-line expansion.
NOW Faces Stiff Competition
Salesforce and Microsoft are major competitors of ServiceNow.
Salesforce remains a key rival to NOW as it continues to integrate multiple AI models into a unified platform. This enables enterprises to deploy intelligent agents across workflows. Salesforce's strong CRM data foundation, deep integrations with apps and Slack, and expanding Agentforce adoption reinforce its position as a major competitor in enterprise AI and automation.
Microsoft leverages Azure, Copilot and a broad partner network to deliver AI-driven workflows across enterprises. The company integrates multiple models and embeds AI agents across products like Microsoft 365 and GitHub, strengthening automation. Microsoft benefits from its large cloud infrastructure, deep enterprise reach and strong partner network, making it a powerful player in enterprise AI and workflow automation.
ServiceNow's shares have declined 43.2% year to date, underperforming the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector's rise of 8%.
NOW's YTD Price Performance
ServiceNow stock is overvalued, with a forward 12-month price/earnings (P/E) of 20.14X compared with the industry's 17.81X. NOW has a Value Score of C.
NOW's Valuation
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ServiceNow's 2026 earnings is pegged at $4.14 per share, unchanged over the past 30 days. The figure indicates a 17.95% increase year over year..
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Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
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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Dow and Louisiana-Pacific have been highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – May 1, 2026 – Zacks Equity Research shares Dow Inc. (DOW - Free Report) as the Bull of the Day and Louisiana-Pacific (LPX - Free Report) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on ServiceNow (NOW - Free Report) , Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) and Salesforce (CRM - Free Report) .
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Bull of the Day:
Known for its cyclical but lucrative earnings potential, now appears to be an ideal time to buy Dow Inc. stock, which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and lands the Bull of the Day.
Dow, one of the world's largest materials science and chemical producers, is benefiting from major disruptions in the global chemical supply chain following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The commodity impact has extended well beyond crude oil, triggering a broad petrochemical supply shock that has tightened global inventories and pushed prices sharply higher.
Against this backdrop, Dow's stock has climbed more than 70% year to date and recently hit a 52-week high of $42 a share, with the momentum suggesting the potential for further gains.
How Dow Is Benefiting from Strait of Hormuz Disruptions
1. Petrochemical prices have jumped sharply, boosting Dow's margins
Dow's CEO Jim Fitterling has reported that the closure immediately tightened global supplies of ethylene, polyethylene, and naphtha, driving significant price increases. Fitterling noted a 10¢ per lb increase in March, another 30¢ in April, and 20¢ more expected in May, marking the strongest pricing uplift in more than a decade.
*Higher selling prices directly support Dow's revenue and earnings, especially in plastics and packaging materials.
2. Global supply constraints are boosting demand for U.S. exports
With Asia cut off from Middle Eastern feedstocks, U.S. producers like Dow are seeing stronger export demand, especially for polyethylene.
*The shift in trade flows increases Dow's market share and pricing power.
3. Dow's U.S. ethane-based production gives it a major cost advantage
Because U.S. petrochemical plants rely on ethane rather than naphtha, they are largely insulated from the feedstock shortages caused by the closure. Asian and European producers, by contrast, depend heavily on naphtha flowing through Hormuz. This has created a massive pricing gap, with the typical U.S.–Asia spread widening from under $500 per ton to over $1,200 per ton.
*This means Dow can sell into global markets at elevated prices while maintaining lower input costs, a significant competitive edge.
4. The supply shock is reshaping the industry in ways that favor Dow
The closure has forced 20% of global ethylene and petrochemical capacity offline and removed up to 40% of Asia's naphtha supply.
*This steepens the global cost curve, meaning high-cost producers struggle while low-cost players like Dow gain a structural advantage.
5. The disruption is long-lasting — extending Dow's pricing tailwind
Dow's CEO estimates it will take 250-275 days to clear the backlog even after the strait reopens, with petrochemicals being among the last categories to resume normal flow.
*This implies sustained elevated prices and tight supply through at least late 2026.
Soaring EPS Revisions
EPS revisions for Dow are soaring as analysts have sharply raised forward earnings expectations following the company's stronger-than-expected results for its fiscal third quarter last week and improved revenue forecast.
With Dow signaling a sign of operational recovery, FY26 EPS estimates have now skyrocketed to $2.37 from projections that called for an adjusted loss of $0.12 a share two months ago. Plus, FY27 EPS revisions have soared 129% in the last 60 days, from estimates of $0.75 to $1.72.
Dow's Attractive Valuation & Dividend Yield
Amid the compelling surge in EPS revisions, DOW is still trading at a reasonable 16X forward earnings multiple and at less than 1X forward sales.
Plus, it's noteworthy that Dow's top line is now expected to expand 8% in FY26, with FY27 sales projected to increase another 3% to $44.58 billion.
Even better, for income-oriented investors, Dow's generous 3.54% annual dividend yield has provided a built-in return while waiting for the company's earnings cycle to strengthen.
Bottom Line
Dow Inc. looks attractive right now because earnings expectations are rising, margins are improving due to global supply tightness, and its stock is still reasonably valued with an enticing dividend yield.
Bear of the Day:
Trading near a 52-week low of $68 a share, Louisiana-Pacific's stock has fallen sharply in the last three months as analysts have started to cut price targets and warned of declining earnings in correlation with ongoing weakness in the oriented-strand-board (OSB) market.
OSB is an engineered wood product that drives much of LPX's profitability in the building materials space and is used in basic structural applications for sheathing, flooring, and roof decking.
Landing a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) and the Bear of the Day, it's noteworthy that LPX's Zacks Building Products-Wood Industry is currently in the bottom 7% of over 240 Zacks industries.
Unfortunately, LPX is standing out as a sore thumb in the industry, as one of the largest OSB producers in North America.
OSB Market Weakness
LPX's OSB segment is cyclical and tied to new home construction, repair/remodeling, and commodity wood-panel pricing.
While OSB prices remain well above pre-pandemic levels, analysts expect continued volatility tied to slower housing demand, rising energy prices, trade policies, and supply constraints. Ultimately, when housing starts soften, or OSB prices fall, LPX's revenue and margins contract.
Notably, LPX's OSB EBITDA fell from $298M in 2024 to just $7M in 2025, a 98% decline, due entirely to market-wide OSB price drops, not by its pricing decisions. This is consistent with the Producer Price Index (PPI) decline for Waferboard and OSB as illustrated below: when the PPI falls, OSB producers' margins fall across the board.
Declining EPS Revisions
Suggesting more short-term volatility is ahead for LPX is that FY26 EPS revisions have now fallen 19% in the last 60 days from estimates of $3.35 to $2.70.
Although FY27 EPS is projected to increase to $4.72, estimates are now down over 1% in the last two months from projections of $4.80.
Bottom Line
Investors may want to avoid Louisiana-Pacific right now because the company faces unfavorable commodity exposure, cyclical demand risk, and a long list of operational and macroeconomic vulnerabilities that could further pressure earnings and its stock.
Additional content:
ServiceNow Benefits from Rich Partner Base: More Upside Ahead?
ServiceNow is benefiting significantly from its rich partner ecosystem, which acts as a core growth engine by enhancing product capabilities, accelerating AI adoption and enabling expansion across multiple industry verticals. The company's collaborations with leading technology providers, such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, allow seamless integration of advanced AI models into its platform. This positions ServiceNow as a central "AI control tower" that orchestrates workflows, agents and enterprise data with strong governance and security.
Partnerships with major enterprise players like Microsoft, Amazon, NVIDIA and IBM strengthen its infrastructure, cloud and AI capabilities, enabling scalable deployment of AI-driven workflows across industries. ServiceNow is also expanding its distribution reach through alliances with firms such as Carahsoft, which opens access to thousands of resellers and enhances penetration into public sector and regulated markets.
Industry-specific collaborations are further driving vertical expansion. Partnerships with NTT DOCOMO and StarHub support telecom innovation, while alliances with Five9, Genesys and Zoom enhance capabilities in customer experience and digital engagement. Collaborations with Visa and Fujitsu deepen its footprint in financial services and global enterprises.
These partnerships, combined with continuous platform innovation, AI-native offerings and strategic acquisitions, are key growth drivers. They enable ServiceNow to expand its total addressable market, accelerate enterprise AI adoption and penetrate verticals, such as telecom, financial services, public sector and logistics, reinforcing its position as a leading enterprise workflow and AI platform. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 revenues is pegged at $16.1 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 21.8%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate forecasts revenue growth of nearly 22% in 2026, underscoring strong visibility into sustained top-line expansion.
NOW Faces Stiff Competition
Salesforce and Microsoft are major competitors of ServiceNow.
Salesforce remains a key rival to NOW as it continues to integrate multiple AI models into a unified platform. This enables enterprises to deploy intelligent agents across workflows. Salesforce's strong CRM data foundation, deep integrations with apps and Slack, and expanding Agentforce adoption reinforce its position as a major competitor in enterprise AI and automation.
Microsoft leverages Azure, Copilot and a broad partner network to deliver AI-driven workflows across enterprises. The company integrates multiple models and embeds AI agents across products like Microsoft 365 and GitHub, strengthening automation. Microsoft benefits from its large cloud infrastructure, deep enterprise reach and strong partner network, making it a powerful player in enterprise AI and workflow automation.
NOW's Share Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
ServiceNow's shares have declined 43.2% year to date, underperforming the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector's rise of 8%.
NOW's YTD Price Performance
ServiceNow stock is overvalued, with a forward 12-month price/earnings (P/E) of 20.14X compared with the industry's 17.81X. NOW has a Value Score of C.
NOW's Valuation
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ServiceNow's 2026 earnings is pegged at $4.14 per share, unchanged over the past 30 days. The figure indicates a 17.95% increase year over year..
ServiceNow currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Free: Instant Access to Zacks' Market-Crushing Strategies
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 tap into those powerful strategies – and the high-potential stocks they uncover – free. No strings attached.
Get all the details here >>
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Zacks Investment Research
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Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
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.