For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – September 29, 2016 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN – Free Report ) as the Bull of the Day and CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF – Free Report ) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on the Xerox Corporation-( NYSE: XRX – Free Report ) , Macy’s Inc-( NYSE: M – Free Report ) and Steelcase Inc-( NYSE: SCS – Free Report ).
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN – Free Report ) is generating stable earnings and sales growth as its core food brands continue to provide stability. This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) is expected to have record earnings this year.
Tyson Foods is one of the leading food companies producing chicken, beef and pork. But it was its recent acquisition of food giant Hillshire Brands in 2014 that propelled the company into another category and provided earnings stability versus the up and down volatility of poultry and meat prices.
Its brands now include Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Sara Lee, Ball Park, Wright, Aidells, State Fair and Hillshire Farm. Its prepared foods include bacon, breakfast sausages, turkey, lunchmeat, hot dogs, pizza crusts, tortillas and desserts.
It has 400 facilities in the United States and around the world.
Another Big Beat in the Fiscal Third Quarter
On August 8, Tyson reported its fiscal 2016 third quarter results and easily beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $ 0.14.
Earnings were $ 1.21 versus the consensus of $ 1.07.
All operating segment results were in or above their normalized operating margin ranges with the Chicken segment being especially strong, seeing a record 13.9% return on sales.
Raised Full Year Guidance
On the back of strong momentum, Tyson raised full year earnings guidance to $ 4.40 to $ 4.50 a share, which is 40% higher than a year ago.
It expects record earnings this fiscal year.
As a result, the analyst also raised their estimates. The Zacks Consensus Estimate jumped to $ 4.52 from $ 4.35 over the last 60 days, which is slightly higher than the company’s guidance.
The analysts are also bullish on fiscal 2017 as the Zacks Consensus Estimate has jumped to $ 4.82 from $ 4.47 over the last 2 months.
That is earnings growth of 6.8%. Tyson believes it can get earnings growth up to the high single digits in fiscal 2017.
Additionally, on Sep 8, at the Consumer Staples Conference, Tyson confirmed its bullish stance.
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CF – Free Report ) is expected to see sharply lower earnings in 2016 as the fertilizer market remains weak. This Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) is forecast to see earnings drop by almost half this year.
CF Industries is one of the largest manufacturers of nitrogen products in the world. It operates nitrogen manufacturing complexes in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom with customers throughout the world.
It also owns a 50% interest in an ammonia facility in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
A Tough 2016
On Aug 3, CF reported second quarter results and, for the fourth quarter in a row, it missed on the Zacks Consensus Estimate as the fertilizer market remained weak.
They haven’t been small misses either.
The second quarter miss was by $ 0.35. It reported just $ 0.33 but the analysts were expecting $ 0.68.
Fertilizer prices in North America continue to be pressured. Wet and cool weather delayed fertilizer applications in the second quarter and a high level of imported products in April and May pressured prices.
Net sales declined to $ 1.13 billion from $ 1.3 billion in the second quarter of 2015 due to lower selling prices across all segments.
There continues to be a worldwide oversupply of nitrogen products which is impacting prices.
Estimates Slashed Again
Given the big miss and the weak outlook in the industry, the analysts have been cutting both 2016 and 2017 estimates.
The 2016 Zacks Consensus Estimate has fallen to $ 1.18 from $ 1.32 in the past 30 days.
That is down from $ 2.00 just 90 days ago.
CF Industries made $ 3.88 in 2015 so that’s an earnings decline of 69.5%.
2017 isn’t looking much better, although the analysts do see a floor in the earnings drop.
They’ve been cutting 2017 estimates as well. The 2017 Zacks Consensus Estimate is now down to $ 1.29 from $ 2.27 just 3 months ago.
That’s an earnings increase of 9%, but it’s not much to cheer about given the huge cut in earnings in 2016. It does, however, indicate that the analysts expect some stabilization in fertilizer prices in 2017.
Additional content:
3 Cheap Stocks with High Dividend Yields
Finding companies with the criteria you want isn’t always easy. You could spend hours searching ticker after ticker, only to find companies which aren’t worthy of your hard earned cash. An easier way to navigate through this is by using high quality stock screeners . Screening helps investors narrow down companies to invest in based on their ability to meet every criteria selected. Any company who misses even one of the criteria requirements will be filtered out.
This lets one easily choose ideal metrics. Screens are effective because they sift out bad stocks and only keep the cream of the crop in. It isn’t always easy to create an effective screen. Our Zacks Premium Screens have helped with this, bringing profits to many investors over time. Our predefined criteria are chosen carefully to capture special kinds of companies.
Today, we’ve dug up three value stocks using one of our premium screens known as “High Rank Value”. Some of the metrics of this screen requires a stock to have a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) or better as well as a price-to-book under 3. Let’s see the stocks which our comprehensive screen has found for us today.
Xerox Corporation-( NYSE: XRX – Free Report )
Xerox is a leading enterprise for business process and document management. It offers business process outsourcing and IT outsourcing services in addition to selling equipment. XRX is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and it has a market cap of $ 10.16 billion.
Xerox looks like a bargain across several fundamental valuation metrics. Its stock trades at a forward PE of just 8.88 in comparison to the industry’s average PE of 19. Xerox also has a PEG of 0.89, so it is quite cheap relative to its longer term growth rate. Xerox’s price-to-book ratio is 1.1, and this suggests that the firm could be undervalued. XRX doles out a solid 3.09% dividend.
Our current year EPS estimate has improved over the last three months, going from a consensus of $ 1.08 to $ 1.13. There has been one positive estimate revision for fiscal 2016 in the last 60 days. XRX has topped our EPS estimate in three of the last four quarters. In the second quarter, the corporation beat our EPS estimate of $ 0.25 by 20%. Xerox is expected to release its Q3 earnings results in late October.
Macy’s Inc-( NYSE: M – Free Report )
Macy’s is a premier retailer with over 700 stores. The company sells merchandise from brands that consumers love, such as Calvin Klein, Estée Lauder, Michael Kors, and Tommy Hilfiger. Macy’s is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and it gets an “A” for Value in our Style Scores.
Macy’s trailing twelve month and forward PE ratios are just 10.19 and 10.85 respectively. Macy’s has a PEG of 1.28, so the stock seems like a relatively cheap buy when factoring in its long term projected growth rate. The major retailer rewards its investors with an attractive annual dividend yield of 4.13%.
For the current year, seven analysts have revised their EPS expectations upwards over the last 60 days. No analysts revised their EPS forecasts lower for fiscal 2016 within the last two months, and thanks to positive estimate revision activity, our consensus estimate has improved, going from $ 3.24 to $ 3.37. Macy’s has beaten our earnings expectations over each of the last four quarters, and it beat our estimate by 35% last quarter. The corporation is slated to release its Q3 earnings report in early to mid November.
Steelcase Inc-( NYSE: SCS – Free Report )
Steelcase Inc. designs and manufactures office equipment products. It makes furniture systems, seating, storage, desks, interior architectural products, technology products, and other related products and services. SCS is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and it gets an “A” in Value and Momentum in our Style Scores.
Steelcase trades at a forward PE of 12.67, and this is slightly lower that the industry’s average PE of 13.42. The company has an especially impressive price-to-sales of 0.54 even though its net margin is relatively in line with the industry average. SCS has a price-to-book of 2.27 while the industry’s average price-to-book comes out to 3.7. Steelcase’s dividend yields investors a return of 3.41% per year.
Analysts have unanimously revised their estimates higher for the current quarter and year, and EPS is forecasted to grow by about 7% this year. For the next fiscal year (2018), EPS is expected to see year-over-year growth of 18%. SCS has beaten our consensus estimate for three straight quarters, and it is expected to release its next quarterly earnings results in mid December.
Bottom Line
One magical screening ingredient which can’t be overlooked is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) or better. The rank helps to find companies which look like dependable earnings candidates. In addition to this great metric, the Zacks Premium Screens help you to add other criteria to find the most superior investment choices. While this article outlined potential candidates from one screen, the Zacks Premium service gives you access to the ” High Rank Value ” and 45 other premium screens designed to give you superior investment returns.
To use Zacks Premium Screens to find more stock picks based on criteria that’s most important to you- plus, gain access to the Zacks Rank for your stocks, mutual funds and ETFs; Zacks Style Scores, Equity Research Reports; Focus List portfolio of 50-longer-term stocks and more- start your 30-day free trial to Zacks Premium .
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 the Analyst Blog
Updated throughout every trading day, the Analyst Blog provides analysis from Zacks Equity Research about the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets.
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.
Zacks “Profit from the Pros” e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Click here to subscribe to this free newsletter today .
About Zacks
Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it’s your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros .
Get the full Report on TSN – FREE
Get the full Report on CF – FREE
Get the full Report on XRX – FREE
Get the full Report on M – FREE
Get the full Report on SCS – FREE
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch
Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts
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.
Media Contact
Zacks Investment Research
800-767-3771 ext. 9339
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/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
TYSON FOODS A (TSN): Free Stock Analysis Report
CF INDUS HLDGS (CF): Free Stock Analysis Report
XEROX CORP (XRX): Free Stock Analysis Report
MACYS INC (M): Free Stock Analysis Report
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Plantations International