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 the first nine months of 2006. Four stocks meeting this screen’s exclusive criteria are: Arch Capital Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACGL), General Cable Corp. (NYSE: BGC), Horace Mann Educators Corp. (NYSE: HMN) and Team, Inc. (Nasdaq: TISI). 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:
Arch Capital Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACGL) recently reported fourth-quarter earnings of $2.88 per share. The result eclipsed the consensus estimate by 19% and outperformed the year-ago earnings. ACGL’s earnings per share have come in above Wall Street expectations each time over the past five consecutive quarters. Arch Capital Group produced earnings per share growth of 50% over the past five years.
General Cable Corp. (NYSE: BGC), Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) company, recently posted fourth-quarter earnings of 68 cents per share. The result surpassed analysts’ expectations by 14% and soared past the previous year’s total. Revenues climbed to $925.3 million from last year’s $617.5 million. The company boasts earnings per share growth of 78% over the past five years.
Horace Mann Educators Corp. (NYSE: HMN), another Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) name, has put together a five-year growth track record of 23%. The company recently announced fourth-quarter earnings that were ahead of the year-prior quarter and beat the consensus estimate by 12%. The company noted that it produced solid earnings for the fourth quarter and full year, and its growth initiatives continued to gain traction.
Team, Inc. (Nasdaq: TISI) is also a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) company. TISI experienced earnings growth of 22% over the past five years. In early January, the company released fiscal second-quarter earnings of 58 cents per share, exceeding the previous year’s 41 cents and outpacing the consensus estimate by 23%. TISI cited continued broad based organic growth across nearly all its geographic regions and noted that its outlook for the rest of the year remains strong.
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. For the first nine months of 2006, the Low Price Stocks strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +42.7% followed by the Discounted Fundamental screen with a +29.7% 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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