Yahoo Finance Here is Why Growth Investors Should Buy MarketAxess (MKTX) Now
Investors seek growth stocks to capitalize on above-average growth in financials that help these securities grab the market's attention and produce exceptional returns. But finding a growth stock that can live up to its true potential can be a tough task.
That's because, these stocks usually carry above-average risk and volatility. In fact, betting on a stock for which the growth story is actually over or nearing its end could lead to significant loss.
However, the task of finding cutting-edge growth stocks is made easy with the help of the Zacks Growth Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which looks beyond the traditional growth attributes to analyze a company's real growth prospects.
MarketAxess (MKTX) is one such stock that our proprietary system currently recommends. The company not only has a favorable Growth Score, but also carries a top Zacks Rank.
Research shows that stocks carrying the best growth features consistently beat the market. And returns are even better for stocks that possess the combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy).
Here are three of the most important factors that make the stock of this operator of bond trading platforms a great growth pick right now.
Earnings Growth
Earnings growth is arguably the most important factor, as stocks exhibiting exceptionally surging profit levels tend to attract the attention of most investors. For growth investors, double-digit earnings growth is highly preferable, as it is often perceived as an indication of strong prospects (and stock price gains) for the company under consideration.
While the historical EPS growth rate for MarketAxess is 13%, investors should actually focus on the projected growth. The company's EPS is expected to grow 16.6% this year, crushing the industry average, which calls for EPS growth of 3.6%.
Impressive Asset Utilization Ratio
Growth investors often overlook asset utilization ratio, also known as sales-to-total-assets (S/TA) ratio, but it is an important feature of a real growth stock. This metric exhibits how efficiently a firm is utilizing its assets to generate sales.
Right now, MarketAxess has an S/TA ratio of 0.45, which means that the company gets $0.45 in sales for each dollar in assets. Comparing this to the industry average of 0.17, it can be said that the company is more efficient.
In addition to efficiency in generating sales, sales growth plays an important role. And MarketAxess is well positioned from a sales growth perspective too. The company's sales are expected to grow 12.7% this year versus the industry average of 3.2%.
Promising Earnings Estimate Revisions
Beyond the metrics outlined above, investors should consider the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is a plus here. Empirical research shows that there is a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
There have been upward revisions in current-year earnings estimates for MarketAxess. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has surged 1.6% over the past month.
Bottom Line
While the overall earnings estimate revisions have made MarketAxess a Zacks Rank #2 stock, it has earned itself a Growth Score of A based on a number of factors, including the ones discussed above.
You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
This combination indicates that MarketAxess is a potential outperformer and a solid choice for growth investors.
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MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
