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This week, Zacks Equity Strategist Mayur Thaker, CFA, discusses:

• One of the newest additions to the Zacks Earnings Certain Proxy and Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolios—Comcast. While the media industry is experiencing many disruptions, Mayur believes these disruptions don’t apply to Comcast. He shares why by analyzing Comcast’s two primary revenue streams: Connectivity & Platforms and Content & Experiences.

• Mayur explores the four pillars of quality and demonstrates Comcast’s strong long-term earnings durability and sustainable growth. He also provides an analysis of the company’s Return on Invested Capital (ROIC), Earnings Backed by Free Cashflow, and Deep Value Multiple.

• Using his framework, Mayur believes Comcast is a high-quality, moated business that continues to compound high EPS. Like other members of the Zacks Earnings Certain Proxy, Comcast offers products or services that fulfill a need rather than discretionary services. Don’t miss out on this week’s valuable insights!

The views of Mayur Thaker, CFA are not necessarily the views of Zacks Investment Research.

This week, Zacks Chief Equity Strategist and Economist John Blank, PhD discusses:

• Top stocks in the Oils & Energy sector, a rapidly changing and relevant area, especially with the increasingly urgent need to power massive data centers. The four industries covered in this week’s discussion are Coal, Energy-Alternative Sources, Oil Machinery services-Drilling, and Oil Exploration & Production.

• To begin, John looks at the latest trends and developments in the industry, including declining demand, community impact, carbon capture, energy storage solutions, renewables and more. Then he reviews top stocks using his three definitions: market capitalization; number of analysts following the stock; and largest percent change in F1 EPS estimate (the most important element used in assigning a Zacks Rank to stocks).

• With this framework, he examines the essential metrics for Oils & Energy stocks, such as Return on Equity, Total Debt, Reinvestment Rates, EPS F12M, Net Margin TTM %, and more. His survey includes well-known and less familiar names including Halliburton (HAL), Cheniere Energy (LNG), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ), First Solar (FSLR), Arch Resources (ARCH), and many others. Don’t miss this important review of the companies that power our world from Zacks’ Chief Equity Strategist!

The views of John Blank, PhD are not necessarily the views of Zacks Investment Research.

This week, Zacks Chief Equity Strategist and Economist John Blank, PhD discusses:

• Top stocks in Aerospace & Defense, a highly-rated and rapidly evolving industry. In this review, John introduces some less familiar names such as Heico Corp (HEI), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc (KTOS) and Cae Inc (CAE). He also surveys the familiar names that have dominated this industry for decades, including Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC), Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT), and a close analysis of the struggles of Boeing Co (BA).

• As John does in all his industry analyses, he defines “top” stocks in three ways: by market capitalization, by number of analysts following the stock, and by largest percent change in F1 EPS estimate (the most important element used in assigning a Zacks Rank to stocks).

• With this framework, John then examines essential metrics for Aerospace & Defense stocks, focusing on data such as Revenue F12M, Return on Equity, Net Margin TTM %, PE F12M, Cash Flow Yield %, and many others. He also looks at the latest trends and developments in this industry, from sustainability efforts including electric flight, to manufacturing developments and novel materials, to immersive technologies (such as augmented reality) in aerospace training. Don’t miss this fascinating and detailed review of the aerospace & defense industry from Zacks’ Chief Equity Strategist!

This week, Zacks Equity Strategist Mayur Thaker, CFA, discusses:

• His latest update on macroeconomic trends. Regular followers of Mayur’s macro updates know that he has been forecasting a downturn for more than a year, based on key leading indicators, including jobs, market valuations, and consumer finances. In a shocking development, real Disposable Personal Income (DPI), Personal Savings, and Personal Savings Rate have all been revised upward—upending the bearish thesis.

• While this is a positive development, Mayur still wonders if a recession is truly off the table in the months ahead. He looks at a number of worrisome metrics that are typically associated with a downturn, including rising credit delinquencies, flat retail sales, and unemployment/underemployment trends that have crossed the recession threshold.

• Mayur concludes that we are headed for one of two scenarios: Either we get the projected economic growth from an AI-fueled productivity boom, or the projections are overly optimistic, and the economy slides into recession. To protect assets in this uncertain environment, Mayur recommends our Earnings Certain Proxy Portfolio, built to deliver low-volatility and durable earnings growth through all macroeconomic environments.

This week, Zacks Chief Equity Strategist and Economist John Blank, PhD discusses:

• Top stocks in the Computers and Technology sector. In this second part of the analysis, John covers three industries: Miscellaneous Technology, Telecommunications Equipment, and Telecommunications Services. Before he dives into the equity analysis, John discusses critical supply chain issues in the industry before the 2022 CHIPS Act, progress made since the CHIPS Act, and key trends in the sector including AI, distributed computing, IoT based office stationery, and more.

• As John has done in previous analyses, he defines “top” stocks in three ways: by market capitalization, by number of analysts following the stock, and by largest percent change in F1 EPS estimate (the most important element used in assigning a Zacks Rank to stocks).

• With this framework, John then examines key metrics for stocks in these industries, including Return on Equity TTM %, Revenue F12M, Cash Flow Yield %, Enterprise Value/Sales F12M and many more. He also compares metrics for the three industries as groups, ranging from Cap Ex to Return on Capital to Quick Ratio and others. Stocks mentioned in today’s discussion include major players such as Verizon (VZ), Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), and Qualcomm (QCOM) as well as less familiar but relevant companies such as Viasat (VSAT), Bandwidth (BAND), Altice (ATUS), and more.

This week, Zacks Equity Strategist Mayur Thaker, CFA, discusses:

• The relationship between gold and excess liquidity. Contrary to popular opinion, Mayur suggests gold behaves differently from the consumer price index and reflects forward-looking liquidity. By looking at trends in the federal government budget alongside past gold prices, Mayur believes gold can forecast the direction of a future government deficit or surplus.

• Mayur’s data shows that as of August 2024, the fiscal deficit is the most severe in any non-emergency year. He believes this alongside rallying gold prices over the past year may indicate increasing fiscal deficits over the next 12-24 months. Mayur also suggests this may signal an upcoming recession or increasing deficit spending.

• He wraps up the discussion by strongly advocating caution to investors and urges a repositioning of assets into quality businesses that comprise the recession-resistant Zacks Earnings Certain Portfolio. Some of these companies include Clorox, Costco, Novo Nordisk, and more. Don’t miss this valuable analysis.

This week, Zacks Chief Equity Strategist and Economist John Blank, PhD discusses:

• The top stocks in the Computers and Technology sector. John surveyed this sector last year, but things move extremely rapidly in this sector, so he has put together a new two-part review for 2024. This week, John looks at stocks in four industries in the sector: Electronics, Electronics-Semiconductors, Computer Software-Services, and Computers-Office Equipment.

• As John has done in previous analyses, he defines “top” stocks in three ways: by market capitalization, by number of analysts following the stock, and by largest percent change in F1 EPS estimate (the most important element used in assigning a Zacks Rank to stocks).

• With this framework, John then examines key metrics for leading the Computers and Tech stocks, and he reveals some fascinating stories by examining data trends, including Revenue F12M, Reinvestment Rates, Net Margin TTM %, Cash Flow Yield %, Enterprise Value/Sales and many others. He looks at big, well-known names like Microsoft (MSFT), Adobe (ADBE), and Nvidia (NVDA) as well as less familiar but intriguing companies such as Pure Storage (PSTG), Generac (GNRC), IonQ (IONQ), and Ballard Power Systems (BLDP), and many, many more.

This week, Zacks Equity Strategist Mayur Thaker, CFA, discusses:

• The increasing probability of a recession. Mayur shares why it may be time to allocate to our defense-oriented Earnings Certain Proxy Portfolio, a recession-resistant portfolio built to provide low-volatility and durable earnings growth through all macroeconomic environments.

• Mayur provides a look into rising economic risks, including job openings per unemployed hitting fresh cycle lows, the high valuation risk of the S&P 500, rising layoff announcement trackers, and increasing market volatility. He also shares that cyclical companies, such as banks, materials, and industrial companies, have collectively been in an earnings recession for four quarters.

• To wrap up the discussion, Mayur suggests now is the time to get defensive with the Earnings Certain Proxy and why he thinks it will outperform over the next 12 months. He also shares the four pillars of quality—a characteristic of all companies in the Earnings Certain Portfolio. Don’t miss this week’s strategy call to get the latest analysis of our current volatile market.

This week, Zacks Chief Equity Strategist and Economist John Blank, PhD discusses:

• An analysis of the top 6 stocks in 4 key sectors: Autos-Tires-Trucks, Basic Materials, Construction, and Industrial Products. This review is designed to help with portfolio construction and asset allocation.

• Similar to John’s recent series of top stocks in various sectors, in this review he uses four criteria to identify the top stocks: market capitalization, Zacks Rank (largest percent change in F1 EPS estimate), number of analysts following the stock, and the criteria for all three. He will also look at variance and covariance, correlation, and portfolio metrics based on various weights assigned to the 6 stocks.

• Using this framework, John then examines performance metrics for the top stocks in these sectors. Tickers he discusses include names like Tesla Inc (TSLA) Paccar Inc (PCAR) in Autos-Tires-Trucks, Linde PLC (LIN) and Vale SA (VALE) in Basic Materials, Sherwin-Williams Co (SHW) and Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (FIX) in Construction, and Ball Corp (BALL) and Cintas Corp (CTAS) in Industrial Products. Don’t miss this essential review for portfolio building and allocation from Zacks’ Chief Equity Strategist!

This week, Zacks Equity Strategist Mayur Thaker, CFA, discusses:

• The rising economic risks that indicate it may be time to allocate to our defense-oriented Earnings Certain Proxy Portfolio, a recession-resistant portfolio built to provide low-volatility and durable earnings growth through all macroeconomic environments. Some portfolio members include Check Point Software, Novo Nordisk (NVO), and Mettler-Toledo (MTD).

• Mayur then looks at data that suggests an increasingly high probability for a downturn or recession in the months ahead. From S&P valuations hovering to near extreme readings, negative earnings estimate revisions for cyclical sectors, and household employment coming to a halt, Mayur indicates the probability of a recession is likely to unfold.

• To wrap up the discussion, Mayur shares the four principles companies must meet to be considered a quality company with high earnings durability. Watch this week’s strategy call for the latest analysis of our current volatile market.