JD.com, NeoPhotonics, Marriott International, Marriott Vacations Worldwide and China Lodging Group highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – May 24, 2017 –Zacks Equity Research JD.com (NASDAQ: JD – Free Report ) as the Bull of the Day, NeoPhotonics Corp (NYSE: NPTN – Free Report ) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR – Free Report ), Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: VAC – Free Report ) and China Lodging Group, Limited (NASDAQ: HTHT – Free Report ).

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day :

Do you at times think, I wish I got into Amazon.com in the late 90’s when they were trading below $50? Well, our Zacks Bull of the Day,JD.com (NASDAQ: JD – Free Report ) is positioning itself to be the big online retailer of China for years to come.

This Zacks ranked #1 (Strong Buy) company operates as an online direct sales company in China. The Company, through its Website https://www.jd.com/ and mobile applications offers a selection of authentic products. It offers computers; mobile handsets and other digital products, home appliances; automobile accessories; clothing and shoes; luxury goods including handbags, watches and jewelry, furniture and household products; cosmetics and other personal care items; food and nutritional supplements; books, e-books, music, movies and other media products; mother and childcare products; toys, sports and fitness equipment; and virtual goods. JD.com, Inc. is based in Beijing, China.

Recent Earnings Report

Management recently reported Q1 17 earnings and revenue results where they easily beat both the Zacks consensus earnings and revenue estimates. Further, the company saw year over year gains in net revenues +41.2%, operating cash flow +405%, annual active customer accounts +40% (236.5 million), fulfilled orders +39% (477.1 million) with fulfilled orders placed through mobile devices accounting for 81% of total orders fulfilled (up 56%), and gross merchandise volume (GMV) +42%.

Moreover, management is expecting annual revenue growth to be between +35%-39% for Q217, with annual net revenues expected to grow between +33%-37%.

Management’s take

According to Richard Liu, Chairman and CEO, “ The strong results across the board reflect that the Chinese market is embracing our model of a high-quality online shopping experience. China’s increasingly discerning consumers are migrating en masse to our unwavering vision of online retail that prioritizes quality and user experience above all else. Looking forward, we are focused on further enhancing our customer experience, while leveraging the capabilities of our platform to serve the needs of a broader business ecosystem .”

Also, Sidney Huang, CFO, commented, “ We are pleased to report another strong quarter of top and bottom line growth, as margins benefited from our rapidly growing scale across all of our product categories, as well as improved operating leverage. In the quarters ahead, we will continue to invest in innovative technologies to ensure long-term growth across our platform .”

Bear of the Day :

China continues to be a growth area for many businesses, but when a company depends on Chinese sales for a large percentage of their sales, a drop off in demand from that market will adversely affect both the top and bottom lines. This is what is happening to our Zacks Bear of the Day,NeoPhotonics Corp (NYSE: NPTN – Free Report ).

This Zacks Ranked #5 (Strong Sell) company is engaged in the design and manufacture of photonic integrated circuit, or PIC, based modules and subsystems for bandwidth-intensive, high-speed communications networks. Products offered by the Company includes high-speed products that enable data transmission at 10Gbps, 40Gbps and 100Gbps, agility products such as ROADMs that dynamically allocate bandwidth to adjust for volatile traffic patterns, and access products that provide high-bandwidth connections to more devices and people over fixed and wireless networks.

Recent Earnings Report

NPTN recently reported Q1 17 earnings where they missed the Zacks consensus earnings estimate, but beat the consensus revenue estimate. On a quarter over quarter basis, the company saw declines in revenues -28%, gross margins dropped from 31.4% to 25.8%, they also posted a net loss of $11.5 million compared to a net gain of $2.3 million, diluted net loss per share of $0.27 compared to net income per share of +$0.05, and adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $5.2 million in Q1 compared to a net gain of $12.3 million in the previous quarter.

Management’s Take

According to Tim Jenks, Chairman and CEO, “ As we expected, softness in the overall China market affected our sales in the first quarter. We see the China market as being in a transition as it moves from primarily national backbone to provincial and metro 100G deployments, while worldwide the metro and data center interconnect markets continue to grow at a rapid pace. We believe we are well-positioned to serve these growing markets with both our high capacity production and our new solutions focused on 400G and above coherent and data center products .”

Additional content:

3 Top-Ranked Hotel Stocks to Buy This Summer

Late last week, data provided by STR showed mixed results from the U.S. hotel industry for the three key performance metrics in Apr 2017. According to STR, occupancy rates in the industry declined 0.7% year-over-year in Apr 2017 to 67.5% while average daily rate (ADR) went up 2.4% to $126.26 and revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased 1.7% to $85.19. Group occupancy declined 12.5% with meeting planners avoiding the time around the Easter holiday. However, STR noted that despite the decline and supply growth of about 2%, absolute occupancy level was the second-highest for any April on record. Moreover, the industry continued to witness consecutive months (86 months) of year-over-year RevPAR growth.

The Zacks-categorized Hotel and Motels industry is currently among the top 29% of the 256 Zacks-ranked industries. Renewed consumer confidence and spending, rising wages, a strengthening labor market, a shift in household expenditure towards leisure spending, innovation and an evolving travel market are some of the factors that should support the performance of this sector. However, challenges do remain in the form of geopolitical turmoil, terrorism, the impact of Brexit and pandemics (like the Zika virus), high labor costs and competitive threat from accommodation platforms like Airbnb. Moreover, the Middle East region will continue to be affected by geopolitical unrest, low oil prices, and lower government spending.

While the Hotel and Motels industry has lagged the S&P 500 year-to-date (YTD) with the industry growing 2.5% compared to the overall market growth of 7.3%, there are a few companies that have performed better than the industry and the overall market and look well-positioned. Here is a look at 3 such stocks.

Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR – Free Report ): Bethesda, MD-based Marriott is the world's largest hotel company with more than 6,100 properties in 124 countries and territories. The company operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts. Marriott has a pretty strong earnings track record with the company surpassing expectations in each of the last four quarters with an average surprise of 5.21%. The company also topped revenue estimates in the first quarter of 2017 and raised its outlook for the year. 2017 earnings estimates are up 3.3% over the last 30 days. While the Middle East region will remain challenging, improving demand in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region should support growth. The Starwood acquisition also bodes well for growth. The company is also returning value to shareholders with more than $2 billion expected to be returned in 2017 alone in the form of share buybacks and dividends. Estimated earnings growth for the current year is 6.1%. Marriott, a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, has outperformed the Zacks-categorized Hotel and Motels industry YTD with shares soaring 26%.

Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:VAC – Free Report ): Orlando, FL-based Marriott Vacations is a leading global pure-play vacation ownership company. Its brands include Marriott Vacation Club, The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club and Grand Residences by Marriott. Marriott Vacations topped earnings estimates in 3 of the last four quarters and is witnessing upward estimate revisions for 2017 over the last 30 days.

Marriott Vacations, a Zacks Rank #2 stock, has outperformed the Zacks-categorized Hotel and Motels industry YTD with shares soaring 32.8%. Marriott Vacations has a VGM Score of “B.” Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of “A” or “B” when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 offer the best upside potential. Estimated earnings growth for the current year is 10.4%. As per a recent report from the ARDA International Foundation (AIF), the timeshare industry remains healthy. According to the report, about 9.2 million households in America own a timeshare with the average length of ownership being nine years.

China Lodging Group, Limited (NASDAQ:HTHT – Free Report ): China Lodging Group is a leading and fast-growing multi-brand hotel group in China with leased and owned, manachised (franchised-and-managed) and franchised models. As of Mar 31, 2017, the company had a total of 3,336 hotels or 335,900 hotel rooms in operation. The company’s main focus is on the economy and midscale hotel segments.

China Lodging Group has a pretty good earnings track record with the company surpassing expectations in each of the last four quarters with an average surprise of 36.43%. 2017 earnings estimates are up 5.4% over the last 30 days. The company witnessed strong RevPAR growth in the first quarter driven by market conditions, consumption upgrade as well as the economy's stronger performance and the company’s direct sales effort. Estimated earnings growth for the current year is 30.5%. China Lodging Group, a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock, has outperformed the Zacks-categorized Hotel and Motels industry YTD with shares soaring 46%.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here .

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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.

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 >>.

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