Yahoo Finance The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Comfort Systems, Hershey, Wynn Resorts, Insulet and Lattice Semiconductor
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – March 27, 2023 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Comfort Systems USA FIX, Hershey HSY, Wynn Resorts WYNN, Insulet PODD and Lattice Semiconductor LSCC.
Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:
Fed Policy Pause & Yellen’s Assurance Buoy Wall Street: 5 Picks
U.S. stocks closed higher on Mar 23 despite a volatile trading session, with gains from mega-cap stocks like Apple and Microsoft helping the tech-heavy Nasdaq climb northward. The S&P 500 and the Dow too finished higher and regained some of the losses from Wednesday’s selloff.
Investors were optimistic that the Federal Reserve will pause interest rate increases in the near term, which undoubtedly bodes well for economic growth. After all, interest rate hikes do impact consumer outlays and increase the cost of borrowing.
The Fed did raise interest rates by 25 basis points recently in an attempt to curb stubbornly high inflation. But policymakers in their statement did get rid of the term “ongoing increases” in interest rates. Instead, they mentioned that the Fed “anticipates that some additional policy firming may be appropriate.”
Fed Chair Jerome Powell this time urged market pundits to focus more on words such as “some” and “may”, and not necessarily on “policy firming.”His advice did assure investors that the central bank is likely to press the pause button on interest rate hikes.
The recent bank meltdown, by the way, is hurting broader stock market returns. Panics of a bank run compelled lenders to take less risk with their capital reserves to ensure they have sufficient cash to cover any slew of withdrawal requests. However, this could mean that banks will stop providing loans to business houses, and issue fewer mortgages leading to an economic cooldown and a slowdown in the housing market.
Notably, the Silicon Valley Bank collapsed due to bond-related losses linked with an increase in interest rates. Consequently, customers rushed to get money out of the bank, while the broader banking sector witnessed a similar withdrawal of funds after SVB’s breakdown.
But U.S. treasury secretary Janet Yellen reassured investors yesterday that bank deposits in the United States were safe and that policymakers do have the wherewithal to tackle any bank-related crisis. She confirmed that the federal government has applied the necessary tools to prevent contagion and is willing to apply such tools if required again.
Thus, Yellen’s effort to lessen investor fears about the banking-sector stability coupled with the Fed’s willingness to pause its interest rate hikes not only boosted the stock market now but will also help it to chug along in the near future. Given such positives, it's prudent for investors to place their bets on growth stocks.
We have, therefore, highlighted five stocks that carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy), and have a Growth Score of A or B, a combination that offers the best opportunities in the growth investing space. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.
Comfort Systems USA provides comprehensive heating, ventilation, and air conditioning installation, maintenance, repair, and replacement services. FIX has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Growth Score of B.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 5.5% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 20%.
Hershey is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America as well as a global leader in chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery. HSY has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Growth Score of A.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 4.3% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 9.9%.
Wynn Resorts is a leading developer, owner, and operator of casino resorts. WYNN has a Zacks Rank #1 and a Growth Score of B.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up more than 200% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 119.5%.
Insulet is a leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of the Omnipod Insulin Management System. PODD has a Zacks Rank #2 and a Growth Score of B.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 21.7% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 1,742.9%.
Lattice Semiconductor designs, develops, and markets high-performance programmable logic devices and related development system software. LSCC has a Zacks Rank #2 and a Growth Score of A.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 1.5% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 18.3%.
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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.
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Hershey Company (The) (HSY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (LSCC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Insulet Corporation (PODD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (FIX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
