Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Aluminum Corp. of China, Amazon.com, Radiation Therapy Services and Patni Computer Systems.

CHICAGO -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Aluminum Corp. of China (NYSE: ACH) as the Bull of the Day and Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Radiation Therapy Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: RTSX) and Patni Computer Systems (NYSE: PTI). Full analysis of all four stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676.

Here is a synopsis of all four stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Our Bull of the Day recommendation is for Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chalco (NYSE: ACH). Chalco announced strong operational results for the third quarter of 2006 mainly due to production increases of primary aluminum products. The company should continue to benefit from strong alumina and aluminum demand in China, as it plans to double its aluminum smelting capacity to three million tons. Chalco has announced six aluminum acquisitions since December 2005, and three offshore alumina projects are on the right track. Given its overall positive prospects, we are maintaining our Buy recommendation on Chalco shares.

Bear of the Day:

Our Bear of the Day recommendation is for Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN). We believe that investors should avoid owning AMZN shares. Our negative view comes from our opinion that Amazon's strong top-line growth will continue to come at the expense of lower profit margins. And if Amazon begins to focus on increasing its margins, its sales growth will slow dramatically. What's more, the stock trades at a rich valuation of 62.4 times our 2007 GAAP-based EPS estimate. All told, we expect the stock to experience a severe P/E multiple contraction over the next several quarters, as its stock price moves to a more reasonable valuation.

Analyst Blog:

As expected, given Radiation Therapy Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: RTSX) management's preannouncement on Jan 23, the company's fourth quarter 2006 [4Q06] net income was $7.2 million, or EPS [earnings per share] of $0.30, up 8.3% year-over-year [y/y], compared with net income of $6.7 million of EPS of $0.28 in 4Q05. Earnings were adversely affected by unanticipated contractual adjustments and higher than expected expenses. We retain our Hold recommendation at current levels.

In the fourth quarter, Patni Computer Systems (NYSE: PTI) reported revenues and earnings that were better than our expectations, and continued progress was made in regards to its margins. The company has worked hard to get its cost structure in line and improve its margins, and we expect this to continue into 2007. However, the company continues to see its revenue growth rate decline, and we now anticipate 19% year-over-year growth in revenues in the first quarter, which is below the growth rate at several of its larger competitors. We continue to rate shares of PTI a Hold, although we have raised our price target to $25.75 based on the company selling at 20x our 2007 earnings estimate of $1.29 per ADR [American Depositary Receipt].

Get the full analysis of all four stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=2649.

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.

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