For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – May 18, 2026 – Zacks Equity Research shares Progyny (PGNY Quick QuotePGNY - Free Report) as the Bull of the Day and Standex International Corp. (SXI Quick QuoteSXI - Free Report) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Tesla (TSLA Quick QuoteTSLA - Free Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL Quick QuoteGOOGL - Free Report) and BYD Co Ltd (BYDDY Quick QuoteBYDDY - Free Report) .

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Healthcare innovators don't always come with flashy headlines, but the companies quietly reshaping how employers manage care costs can become some of the market's strongest long-term winners. That's exactly what makes Progyny stock intriguing at around $23 a share.

Progyny has carved out a leadership position in fertility and family-building benefits, helping employers provide comprehensive fertility treatment coverage while improving clinical outcomes and lowering wasteful healthcare spending. As fertility care moves further into the mainstream and employers increasingly compete for talent through expanded healthcare benefits, Progyny sits directly in the middle of a rapidly growing secular trend.

The Expanding Fertility Services Market

The fertility services market has been expanding steadily over the past decade, fueled by rising infertility rates, delayed parenthood, greater social normalization of fertility treatments, and accelerating corporate adoption of fertility benefits. At the same time, investment in fertility clinics, reproductive technologies, and care infrastructure continues to increase globally, creating a powerful tailwind for companies operating in the space.

That growth opportunity is substantial. Industry forecasts project the global fertility services market could approach $70 billion by 2030, up dramatically from levels seen just a few years ago.

The chart below illustrates the strong projected expansion across every major geographic region through the end of the decade.

Why Progyny Stands Out

Unlike traditional insurance carriers, Progyny offers a specialized fertility benefits platform that combines smart benefit design, a curated provider network, pharmacy management, and patient advocacy services.

This model creates several advantages:

·        Better clinical outcomes

·        Lower multiple-birth complications

·        Reduced healthcare waste

·        Higher employee satisfaction

·        Stronger retention for employer clients

Employers increasingly view fertility coverage not as a niche perk, but as a strategic recruiting and retention tool. In a competitive labor environment, comprehensive fertility and family-building benefits can materially improve employee satisfaction and workforce loyalty.

That trend has driven growing adoption among Fortune 500 companies and large self-insured employers.

A Massive Secular Tailwind

The broader fertility market continues to benefit from several long-term demographic and social shifts:

·        Couples are waiting longer to start families

·        Infertility diagnoses continue rising globally

·        Awareness and acceptance of fertility treatment have increased

·        LGBTQ+ family-building demand continues to expand

·        Corporate healthcare benefit offerings are becoming more comprehensive

Meanwhile, advances in reproductive medicine and growing investment in fertility infrastructure are making treatments more accessible and effective.

For Progyny, these trends create a long runway for continued member growth and client expansion.

Progyny's Reasonable Valuation & Steady Growth

Even with macro uncertainty affecting parts of the healthcare sector, Progyny has continued to generate strong revenue growth and healthy profitability metrics relative to many healthcare services peers.

The company's asset-light platform model also provides scalability advantages as adoption of fertility treatment increases, and Progyny stock is reasonably valued at 11X forward earnings and less than 2X forward sales.

Furthermore, Progyny's earnings outlook has continued to improve, helping fuel growing bullish sentiment around the stock and contributing to its current Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) rating.

Analysts now expect PGNY to earn $1.94 per share in fiscal 2026 and $2.16 in 2027, representing projected annual EPS growth of 2.7% this year and more than 11% next year.

The most encouraging signal comes from the positive trend in earnings estimate revisions over the last 60 days, with FY26 and FY27 EPS estimates up roughly 2% respectively.

This comes as Progyny's annual sales are expected to increase 7% this year and are projected to rise another 9% in FY27 to $1.51 billion.

Bottom Line

Progyny offers investors exposure to one of healthcare's fastest-growing specialty benefit categories. With fertility care demand rising globally, employers expanding coverage offerings, and demographic trends supporting long-term adoption, the company remains well-positioned to benefit from the continued evolution of reproductive healthcare.

For growth investors seeking exposure to a differentiated healthcare disruptor with strong secular tailwinds, PGNY deserves a close look.

Bear of the Day:

Standex International Corp. has long been viewed as a viable industrial products manufacturer with exposure to electronics, engineering technologies, and specialty manufacturing markets. However, despite pockets of operational strength, Standex stock is starting to flash warning signs that investors should not ignore.

SXI currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), reflecting a sharply negative trend in earnings estimate revisions — one of the most powerful indicators of future stock underperformance.

While the broader market has remained resilient, analysts have become increasingly pessimistic about Standex's earnings outlook over the last several months. That deterioration in sentiment is a key reason investors may want to avoid SXI right now, and it may be a good time to lock in any profits over the last few years.

Recent Earnings Results Have Hurt Sentiment

Although Standex has occasionally delivered earnings beats, its most recent fiscal third quarter results were subpar, causing SXI to fall 8% in the last month.

The company posted Q3 earnings of $2.21 per share, narrowly missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.22. Furthermore, Q3 revenue of $224.6 million also came in slightly below expectations.

This comes as management continues to face a mixed demand environment across several end markets, while macroeconomic uncertainty and slowing industrial activity remain headwinds.

Declining EPS Revisions

One of the biggest concerns surrounding Standex is the steady decline in consensus EPS estimates across nearly every important reporting period.

Based on the latest consensus estimate trend data, analysts have reduced earnings expectations significantly over the last 60 days:

·        Current quarter (Q4) EPS estimates have fallen from $2.52 to $2.30

·        Next quarter estimates have dropped from $2.13 to $2.02

·        Current fiscal-year 2026 EPS projections have declined from $8.83 to $8.59

·        Next year (FY27) EPS estimates have slid from $10.30 to $9.67

That persistent downward revision cycle is particularly concerning because estimate cuts often precede stock underperformance.

Empirical research behind the Zacks Rank system shows that stocks experiencing negative estimate revisions tend to lag the broader market. In SXI's case, the magnitude of the cuts has been meaningful and broad-based.

SXI's Valuation Leaves Little Room for ErrorAnother issue for investors is valuation. Despite weakening earnings momentum, SXI still trades at a relatively elevated 30X forward earnings multiple compared to its Zacks Manufacturing-General Industrial Industry average of 22X, which includes a number of more favorably rated stocks such as Generac Holdings and Tennant, just to name a few.

That premium becomes difficult to justify when earnings expectations are falling instead of rising like many of its aforementioned peers.

Bottom Line

Because the industrial products sector tends to be cyclical, these stocks need positive momentum, and SXI doesn't have it at the moment.

The market often rewards industrial products stocks that are showcasing accelerating demand trends, expanding margins, and rising earnings forecasts. Unfortunately, Standex is currently moving in the opposite direction in those regards.

Until estimate revisions stabilize and analysts regain confidence in Standex's growth outlook, investors may be better off focusing on stocks with improving earnings momentum instead.

Additional content:

Tesla Robotaxi Concerns Grow: Is TSLA Stock Still Worth Holding?

Tesla has long been convincing investors that robotaxis could become the company's biggest long-term growth driver. CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly positioned autonomous driving as a future multi-trillion-dollar opportunity for the company. That narrative has also helped support investor optimism even as Tesla's core EV business faces slowing demand, rising competition and margin pressure. But Tesla's robotaxi rollout has fallen short of expectations so far, with expansion moving slower than anticipated.

Now, the latest reports around Tesla's robotaxi services are raising fresh doubts. Long wait times, limited vehicle availability, ride cancellations and poor drop-off experiences suggest the rollout is still far from smooth. With delays continuing and rivals like Alphabet's Waymo already scaling commercial driverless operations, investors are increasingly questioning whether Tesla's autonomous ambitions are progressing fast enough to justify the lofty valuation.

TSLA's Robotaxi Facing Execution Concerns

Tesla's robotaxi expansion is beginning to show cracks despite the company's aggressive promises around autonomous driving. Last month, Tesla expanded robotaxi services to Dallas and Houston, but early user experiences appear underwhelming. A Reuters report indicates that customers are facing long wait times, inconsistent vehicle availability and even ride cancellations. In some cases, riders were dropped far away from their intended destinations, highlighting that the service still looks more like a testing program than a mature commercial platform.

The concerns come at a time when Tesla's messaging around robotaxi expansion is also becoming inconsistent. On the last earnings call, Elon Musk warned investors about delays in the rollout timeline. Earlier, Tesla planned to launch robotaxi services across seven U.S. cities by mid-2026. That target has been pushed back. Musk now expects the expansion into nearly a dozen states by year-end. Constant changes in timelines are creating uncertainty instead of confidence.

Meanwhile, competition is intensifying. Alphabet's Waymo is already operating fully driverless Level 4 systems across multiple cities at commercial scale. Waymo currently delivers more than 500,000 paid robotaxi rides weekly across multiple U.S. cities without safety monitors or chase vehicles. Tesla, by comparison, reportedly operates only around 50 robotaxis in Austin versus more than 250 Waymo vehicles in the same city, per Electrek.

Tesla highlighted on its last earnings call that its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has crossed 9 billion cumulative miles. However, supervised miles are very different from fully autonomous real-world operations. That gap remains one of the biggest risks for investors banking heavily on Tesla's robotaxi future.

Tesla's Long-Term Vision Still Faces Credibility Questions

Well, Tesla is not entirely lacking positives. Management highlighted several encouraging trends on the last earnings call. Vehicle demand appears to be improving, with Tesla ending the quarter with its highest first-quarter order backlog in more than two years. Automotive gross margins also improved sequentially.

Demand seems to be improving in the world's largest EV market despite strong competitors like BYD Co Ltd. In China, Tesla shipped 79,478 Shanghai-built Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in April, including exports, marking a 36% year-over-year increase and the sixth straight month of growth.

Tesla's energy and storage business also remains a major bright spot. Even though first-quarter 2026 deployments declined in the first quarter on both a yearly and sequential basis, management still expects full-year 2026 deployments to exceed 2025 levels. More importantly, the energy segment continues to be one of Tesla's most profitable businesses.

Over the past month, shares of TSLA have risen 14%. However, despite the first-quarter earnings beat, Tesla's broader story is becoming increasingly complicated. The company is no longer being valued as just an EV maker. Investors are now betting heavily on AI, robotaxis and humanoid robots like Optimus. That future requires enormous spending.

Tesla recently raised its capital expenditure forecast to $25 billion from $20 billion, with Musk arguing that the investment supports a much larger long-term opportunity. But the payoff remains uncertain and keeps getting pushed further out. The same concerns apply to Optimus. Earlier targets around robot production have already been missed, and Musk now admits output will scale slowly.

How Should You Approach TSLA Stock Now?

At this stage, Tesla looks more like a high-risk long-duration bet than a buy-now opportunity. The company continues to promise massive future opportunities across AI, robotaxis and humanoid robots, but investors are still waiting for meaningful large-scale execution. The valuation already prices in years of aggressive growth assumptions, leaving little room for further disappointments or delays.

Meanwhile, rising spending and uncertain timelines could continue pressuring sentiment in the near term. That said, Tesla still possesses strong technology capabilities, a powerful brand and multiple long-term growth platforms. Existing investors can hold their positions, but fresh buying at current levels appears difficult to justify now.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Tesla's 2026 EPS has moved south by 4 cents in the past 30 days to $1.99, implying 20% year-over-year growth.

TSLA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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