Tag: Highlights

The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: RH, The Boston Beer Company, Thor Industries, Target and FedEx

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 9, 2020 – 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: RH RH, The Boston Beer Company, Inc. SAM, Thor Industries, Inc. THO, Target Corporation TGT and FedEx Corporation FDX.

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Growth Stocks to Buy on Iffy Stimulus Prospects

On Oct 7, U.S. stock markets closed sharply higher after President Donald Trump tweeted urging U.S. Congress to immediately pass a coronavirus-aid package for some specific segments of the economy.

This was in contrast to Trump’s tweet on Oct 6 when he asked his administration to halt negotiations with Democrats regarding a full-phased fiscal stimulus till the scheduled U.S. election on Nov 3. Wall Street saw an immediate downturn and ended sharply lower as soon as the news broke. However, investors’ hope for at least a truncated second round of stimulus package helped the market to more than offset the previous day’s losses.

A Partial Fiscal Stimulus

President Trump has urged Congress to clear $25 billion for airline payroll support and $135 billion for a small business paycheck protection program. Both of these aids could be paid for out of unused funds from the Cares Act, which came to an end in July. Moreover, Trump has also sent a stand-alone bill of $1,200 per individual as unemployment benefit.

Notably, the $2.2 trillion first round of coronavirus-relief package — popularly known as the CARES ACT — terminated at July end. Meanwhile, coronavirus-led severe economic devastation compelled lawmakers to inject another round of stimulus.

However, the U.S. Congress failed to reach an amicable solution regarding the size and scope of

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WisdomTree LargeCap Dividend ETF: Underperformance Highlights Strategy Weakness (NYSEARCA:DLN)

The WisdomTree LargeCap Dividend ETF (NYSE:DLN) is meant to track the performance of the largest U.S. dividend-paying stocks. The allure here is that companies able to regularly distribute payouts to shareholders generally present stronger fundamentals with lower risk and potentially higher total returns. Indeed, the fund has a value-tilt while offering a 2.7% yield which is attractive relative to the broader equity market. While the fund benefits from a portfolio built around high-quality stocks, DLN suffers from what we view are structural weaknesses in dividend weighted index tracking methodology. The combination of disappointing performance history and poor risk profile, despite similar exposure to broad index funds, limits DLN’s value in the context of a diversified portfolio. We recommend investors avoid this strategy and look for alternative dividend-focused ETFs.

(Source: finviz.com)

DLN Background

DLN is designed to track the ‘WisdomTree U.S. LargeCap Dividend Index’ comprised of the 300 largest companies ranked by market capitalization. An important aspect of the tracking index methodology is that holdings are dividend-weighted, which reflects the proportionate share of the projected aggregate year-ahead cash payout for each underlying company based on the most recent distribution.

The result is that Apple Inc. (AAPL) which only yields 0.7%, but distributes over $14 billion in total annual dividends, and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) paying out $15.1 billion in dividends are the two largest current holdings of the fund. Separately, a high-yield stalwart like AT&T Inc. (T) with a 7.25% yield is among the top holdings as the company’s annual cash distribution of $14.9 billion over the past year is also among the largest in the market.

(Source: data by YCharts/ table by author)

WisdomTree explains that this methodology has the effect of tilting the total return profile of the fund towards dividends and a value equity factor by favoring companies with

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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: General Motors, Ford, Fiat, Tesla and Honda

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 7, 2020 – 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 General Motors GM, Ford F, Fiat Chrysler FCAU, Tesla TSLA and Honda HMC.

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Big 3 Detroit Automakers in Focus: How Have They Fared?

After plunging the most in the second quarter since the Great Recession, the U.S. auto industry gathered momentum in the third quarter, with sales rebounding from coronavirus-led lows and buyers returning to showrooms. Sales growth for September marked the first monthly rise since February. Unless there is a spike in coronavirus cases, which will trigger another round of lockdown and send vehicle deliveries into a tailspin, auto sales in the United States are likely to gain traction going forward. Increasing consumer confidence, declining unemployment rate and Fed’s efforts to support the economy bode well for the auto industry, which is highly cyclical in nature.

Amid the improving landscape, let’s take a look at how the Big 3 automakers namely General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler are currently faring. General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler are three of the oldest auto firms dated 1908, 1903 and 1925, respectively. While relatively new auto firms including Tesla are surely beefing up competition, especially in the electric vehicle space, these three legacy automakers have certainly stood the test of time and remain trusted picks for investors and consumers alike. While Fiat Chrysler currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), General Motors and Ford carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and 3 (Hold), respectively. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here

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Vaccine pop highlights big differences in COVID-19-inspired ETFs

This analysis is by Bloomberg Intelligence senior analysts Eric Balchunas and Athanasios Psarofagis. It appeared first on the Bloomberg Terminal.

The hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine is fueling early gains for a new theme exchange-traded fund, GERM, which has higher allocations to companies such as Inovio, Novavax and Moderna than any other ETF. A similar-sounding ETF isn’t getting the same boost, highlighting the importance of due diligence in the increasingly popular thematic category.

GERM’s all-in design pays off immediately

The ETFMG Treatments Testing and Advancements ETF (GERM) was up 13% in its first two weeks, offering a reminder of how crucial index design is for theme ETFs. GERM is highly focused, going all-in on biotech names that aim to treat and prevent viruses, including some companies pursuing a COVID-19 vaccine. Inovio and Novavax are responsible for about half of the ETF’s gain. No ETF has a bigger weighting to either company.

The early performance highlights the difference between a “pure-play” thematic ETF such as GERM and the broader approach of another new launch, the Pacer Biothreat ETF (VIRS). The latter includes only large-cap stocks — many of which aren’t involved in vaccine development.

Biggest contributors to GERM’s start

Netflix in biothreat ETF a pitch to advisers

The Pacer Bio Threat ETF (VIRS), despite the name, is much broader than GERM, with mainstream holdings such as Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, Netflix and Lowe’s, alongside more targeted stocks, including Abbott Laboratories and Sanofi, a maker of hydroxychloroquine. The portfolio may be overly broad for the theme, in our view, but the ETF is likely targeted at advisers. They tend to prefer ETFs stuffed with big-cap stocks, so the fund moves much like the market, avoiding the need to explain potential performance gaps to clients.

GERM has much more small-cap exposure and tracking error to

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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Valero, Royal Dutch, HollyFrontier, Phillips 66 and Marathon

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 5, 2020 – 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 Valero Energy VLO, Phillips 66 PSX, Marathon Petroleum MPC, Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A and HollyFrontier HFC.

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Oil Posts Quarterly Gain as Supplies Fall for Third Week

U.S. oil prices eked out a quarterly gain after a government report revealed a weekly decrease in crude supplies that was contrary to expectations. The third straight fall in domestic oil stocks was accompanied by a decrease in distillate inventories.

Additionally, the agency said that gasoline stockpiles increased and oil supplies at the Cushing, OK, delivery hub rose too, but these had little effect on the positive response to the Energy Information Administration (“EIA”) data. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude futures gained 93 cents, or 2.4%, to settle at $40.22 a barrel on Wednesday. The commodity moved 2.4% higher over the past three months.

Analyzing the Latest EIA Report

Below we review the EIA’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report for the week ending Sep 25.

Crude Oil:The federal government’s EIA report revealed that crude inventories fell by 2 million barrels compared to expectations of a 1.9 million-barrel build. The combination of a sizable increase in exports and a ramp up in refinery activity accounted for the surprise stockpile draw with the world’s biggest oil consumer even as domestic production stayed firm. This puts total domestic stocks at 492.4 million barrels — 16.5% higher than the year-ago figure and 13% higher than the five-year average.

On a bearish note, the latest report showed that supplies at the Cushing

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