Yahoo Finance The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Expeditors International of Washington, Exxon Mobil, Archer-Daniels-Midland, and W.W. Grainger
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – January 6, 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: Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. EXPD, Exxon Mobil XOM, Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. ADM, and W.W. Grainger, Inc. GWW.
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
4 Dividend Aristocrats You Must Keep an Eye on in 2023
After Wall Street’s S&P 500 registered a nearly $8 trillion rout in 2022, the stock market continues to face more hurdles in 2023. Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting showed that policymakers supported hiking interest rates this year to lower inflation toward their target range of 2%, even at the cost of rising unemployment and slower economic growth.
The Fed, after aggressively hiking interest rates for four consecutive 75 basis points, increased the benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points at its latest meeting in December. What’s more, Fed officials continue to show a hawkish tilt, with more hikes anticipated this year than investors’ expectations.
The minutes from the Fed’s Dec 13-14 meeting showed that none of the 19 top central bank officials expect any cut in interest rates in 2023, as they continue to wait for further evidence that inflation is slowing down at a sustainable rate. The Fed officials, in reality, have now increased the benchmark lending rate to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, the highest since 2007.
But such monetary tightening measures increase borrowing costs and curtail consumers’ propensity to spend, finally tipping the economy into a recession. Consumers, by the way, have already begun to spend less and U.S. manufacturing witnessed weakening demand, a tell-tale sign that the economy is slowing down.
Per the Commerce Department, sales at U.S. retailers dropped 0.6% in November, twice the expected 0.3%. Similarly, manufacturing activity in the United States contracted in December for the second month in succession. The ISM manufacturing PMI came in at 48.4 last month, declining from 49 in November, its lowest level since May 2020.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund predicted that one-third of the global economy might be in a recession this year, mostly due to a jump in prices, rate hikes, the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the spread of Covid in some parts of China. According to a new poll from Gallup, most Americans now think the United States will face great economic difficulty in 2023.
All these gloomy developments don’t bode well for the stock market. Yet, investors shouldn’t panic! Adversities like these also pave the way for new investment opportunities. One such way is to keep an eye on dividend aristocrats like Expeditors International of Washington, Inc., Exxon Mobil, Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., and W.W. Grainger, Inc. for steady income.
These stocks have better-quality business and solid fundamentals, which helps them remain undeterred by market volatility. Notably, the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index has already outperformed the broader S&P 500 index for quite some time.
Expeditors International of Washington is engaged in the business of global logistics management, including international freight forwarding and consolidation, for both air and ocean freight. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company is known for having raised its dividend for over 25 consecutive years. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Expeditors International of Washington has a dividend yield of 1.28%. EXPD’s payout ratio presently sits at 14% of earnings. In the past five years, EXPD’s payout has advanced by 9.3%. Check Expeditors International of Washington’s dividend history here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 10.4% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 5.1%.
Exxon Mobil has bellwether status in the energy space. This Zacks Rank #3 company is known for having increased its dividend for more than 25 consecutive years.
Exxon Mobil has a dividend yield of 3.42%. XOM’s payout ratio presently sits at 28% of earnings. In the past five years, XOM’s payout has advanced by 2.4%. Check Exxon Mobil’s dividend history here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 0.9% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 156.9%.
Archer Daniels Midland is one of the leading producers of food and beverage ingredients as well as goods made from various agricultural products. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company is known for having raised its dividend for over 47 consecutive years.
Archer Daniels Midland has a dividend yield of 1.78%. ADM’s payout ratio presently sits at 22% of earnings. In the past five-year period, ADM’s payout has advanced by 4.1%. Check Archer Daniels Midland’s dividend history here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 9.2% over the past 90 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 43.9%.
W.W. Grainger is a broad-line, business-to-business distributor of maintenance, repair, and operating products and services. This Zacks Rank #3 company is known for having raised its dividend for 50 years in a row.
W.W. Grainger has a dividend yield of 1.24%. GWW’s payout ratio presently sits at 25% of earnings. In the past five years, GWW’s payout has advanced by almost 6.2%. Check W.W. Grainger’s dividend history here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 0.8% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 48.3%.
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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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Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (EXPD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
W.W. Grainger, Inc. (GWW) : Free Stock Analysis Report
