Zacks Return On Equity Strategy Highlights: Casey's General Stores, Energy Transfer Partners LP, Lamson & Sessions Co., and The Pantry.CHICAGO -- One of the quickest ways to gauge whether a company is creating assets or gobbling up investor's cash is to look at their Return On Equity (ROE). The fast moving ROE Profit Track screening strategy from Zacks.com has generated double-digit returns for four consecutive years, including a 2004 return of +30.3%. In 2005, it continued to outperform Outperform An analyst recommendation meaning a stock is expected to do slightly better than the market return. Notes: Exact definitions vary by brokerage, but in general this rating is better than neutral and worse than buy or strong buy. the S&P 500 by a wide margin. Four stocks meeting this screen's exclusive criteria are Casey's General Stores Casey's General Stores, Inc. NASDAQ: CASY is a chain of convenience stores in the Midwestern United States, primarily within the states of Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. The company is headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa. Inc. (Nasdaq:CASY CASY Chemical Agent Storage Yard ), Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :ETP ETP Eligible Termination Payment (Australian finance) ETP Equivalent Temps Plein (French: Full Time Equivalent) ETP European Technology Platform ETP Employment Training Panel ), Lamson & Sessions Co. (NYSE:LMS (Learning Management System) An information system that administers instructor-led and e-learning courses and keeps track of student progress. Used internally by large enterprises for their employees, an LMS can be used to monitor the effectiveness of the ), and The Pantry, Inc. (Nasdaq:PTRY). View the entire list of stocks for the ROE Profit Track at http://at.zacks.com/?id=1853 Here are details about four companies currently identified by the ROE Profit Track: Casey's General Stores Inc. (Nasdaq:CASY) posted fiscal second-quarter earnings of 44 cents per share Cents per share The amount of a mutual fund's dividend or capital gains distributions that a shareholder will receive for each share owned. in early December, outperforming last year's 22 cents and exceeding the consensus estimate by nearly 52%. The company stated that at the six-month mark all three of its business categories were exceeding annual goals for sales and margins, giving CASY a 27.9% increase in total sales and a substantial gross profit gain of 19.9%. The company is creating assets as evidenced by its ROE of 12.20. The company's price to sales ratio is .39. Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE:ETP) recently announced that due to improved financial performance following the release of its first quarter earnings, ETP is increasing its EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) A metric used to show a company's profitability, but not its cash flow. EBITDA became popular in the 1980s to show the potential profitability of leveraged buyouts, but has become guidance for fiscal year 2006 to $650 million from the previously announced $575 million. Fiscal first-quarter earnings, which were released in early January, outperformed the year-ago result. The company has an appealing valuation as indicated by its price to sales ratio of .41. ETP's ROE is 22.74. Lamson & Sessions Co. (NYSE:LMS), which has a ROE of 26.88 and a price to sales ratio of .86, recently issued a second upward revision of fourth-quarter earnings. LMS now expects earnings per share to be between 88 cents and 91 cents compared to its previous guidance of 70 cents to 75 cents. Analysts are in agreement as evidenced by current estimates of 89 cents per share, which is about 27% above one month ago levels. Fourth-quarter results will be available in mid-February. LMS reported third-quarter earnings per share of 35 cents in late October. The result topped the consensus estimate by nearly 3% and exceeded the year ago performance. The Pantry, Inc. (Nasdaq:PTRY), a leading independently operated convenience store chain in the southeastern U.S., offers a ROE of 31.17 and a price to sales ratio of .27. The company just released its fiscal first-quarter results, stating that first quarter performance was exceptionally strong, reflecting unusually favorable fa·vor·a·ble adj. 1. Advantageous; helpful: favorable winds. 2. Encouraging; propitious: a favorable diagnosis. 3. conditions in the gasoline market early in the quarter, and benefits from prior year acquisitions. Discover all the current stocks currently on the ROE Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=1854 About Profit Tracks What is a "Profit Track"? Each Profit Track is a successful stock picking strategy with proven results through the Bear Market of 2001-2002 and the Bull run started in 2003. On Zacks.com we have created these nine unique screens to offer investors great strategies to potentially outperform the market in the years ahead. In 2004, the Upgrades and Revisions strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +55.7% followed by the Low Price Stocks screen with a +54.8% return. To see all nine strategies along with philosophy, past performance, and current stocks, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=1838. All the Profit Track strategies were created and backtested using the Research Wizard software from Zacks Investment Research Zacks Investment Research A firm that compiles earnings estimates and brokerage firm investment recommendations for thousands of publicly traded firms. . If you like this screening strategy, but want to narrow down the list of stocks and even improve the performance, then you should start a free trial to this powerful stock picking tool. Learn more about the Research Wizard free trial offer and our new special report "Top 10 Stock Screening Strategies" at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2156 About Zacks Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 to compile, analyze, and distribute investment research to both institutional and individual investors. The guiding principle behind Zacks is the belief that investment experts, such as brokerage analysts and investment newsletter writers, have superior knowledge about how to invest successfully. The goal is to unlock these pros' profitable insights for individual investors hard-pressed to find this valuable information in one source. A free subscription to "Profit from the Pros" weekly e-mail newsletter provides the best way to use these experts' insights for more profitable investing. Register for a free subscription to the Profit from the Pros newsletter at http://at.zacks.com/?id=1841 Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. (a)The S&P 500 Index ("S&P 500") is a well-known, unmanaged index of the prices of 500 large-company common stocks selected by Standard and Poor's Noun 1. Standard and Poor's - a broadly based stock market index Standard and Poor's Index . The S&P 500 includes the reinvestment Reinvestment Using dividends, interest and capital gains earned in an investment or mutual fund to purchase additional shares or units, rather than receiving the distributions in cash. 1. In terms of stocks, it is the reinvestment of dividends to purchase additional shares. of all dividends, no transaction costs Transaction Costs Costs incurred when buying or selling securities. These include brokers' commissions and spreads (the difference between the price the dealer paid for a security and the price they can sell it). , and represents the gross returns before management fees. Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should always research companies and securities before making any investments. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer or solicitation solicitation In criminal law, the act of asking, inducing, or directing someone to commit a crime. The person soliciting another becomes an accomplice to the crime. The term also refers to the act of obtaining bribes, as well as to the crime of a prostitute who offers sexual to buy or sell any security. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion