Earnings estimate revisions are the most powerful force impacting stock prices. Couple that with the proven benefits of upgrades in ratings from brokerage firms and you have a strategy that delivered a +23.3 return in 2006. Four stocks meeting this screen’s exclusive criteria are Corn Products International, Inc. (NYSE: CPO), Cymer, Inc. (Nasdaq: CYMI), Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE: FIX) and Pericom Semiconductor Corp. (Nasdaq: PSEM). View the entire list of stocks for the Upgrades and Revisions Profit Track at http://at.zacks.com/?id=1844.
Here are details on four companies currently identified by the Upgrades and Revisions Profit Track:
Corn Products International, Inc. (NYSE: CPO) has been hitting 52-week highs recently and currently trades slightly below that level. The company is scheduled to report third-quarter results on October 30, 2007. In mid-September, Corn Products declared a dividend of 11 cents per share, a 22% increase over the prior dividend. The dividend is payable on October 25, 2007, to stockholders of record at the close of business on October 4, 2007. CPO generated earnings per share growth of 18% over the past five years.
Cymer, Inc. (Nasdaq: CYMI) announced second-quarter earnings of 67 cents per share in late July, outpacing last year’s 55 cents and exceeding the consensus estimate by 31%. The company mentioned that second-quarter bookings totaled $131.5 million, an increase of 14% over first-quarter bookings. Results for the third quarter are scheduled for release on October 23, 2007. Cymer produced earnings per share growth of 64% over the past five years.
Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (NYSE: FIX) released results for the second quarter in early August. Earnings per share of 25 cents outperformed the year-ago 19 cents and beat the consensus estimate by 14%. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.035 per share in early August, which was paid on September 20, 2007. Comfort Systems experienced earnings per share growth of 48% over the past five years.
Pericom Semiconductor Corp. (Nasdaq: PSEM) released fiscal fourth-quarter results in early August. GAAP earnings per share of eight cents was equal to the year-prior total but ahead of the consensus estimate 14%. Net revenues of $31.5 million increased by 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. PSEM fulfills the requirements for this Profit Track with impressive earnings per share growth of 168% over the past five years.
Discover all the current stocks currently on the Upgrades and Revisions Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=1869
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 2006, the Low Price Stocks strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +56.5% followed by the Discounted Fundamental screen with a +34% 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. 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.
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The performance of the Zacks Rank portfolios shown above for annual and year-to-date periods are the linked monthly total returns (price changes + dividends) of equal weighted hypothetical portfolios, consisting of those stocks with the indicated Zacks Rank, assuming monthly rebalancing and zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios. The hypothetical portfolios were created at the beginning of each month from Jan 1988 forward based on the values of the Zacks Rank available to Zacks' clients before the beginning of each month. The portfolios created monthly from 1988 through September 2006 exclude ADRS and are comprised of stocks that have the indicated Zacks Rank and were covered by at least two analysts at the time of the stocks inclusion in the portfolio. Starting in October 2006 and going forward, the portfolios are comprised of all stocks with the indicated Zacks Rank and do not exclude ADRs, which is more reflective of the list of stocks that customers will find on the Zacks web sites. 2007 returns are for the period of Jan 1 – Jun 30, 2007. These performance numbers have been audited from 1995 through 2003 by Autschuler Melovan, a division of American Express Financial.
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