Dj Globe Life Inc. Stock Outperforms Competitors On Strong Trading Day

For new and old investors, taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals. Zacks Premium provides lots of different ways to do both.

Featuring daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, full access to the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens, the research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor.

Zacks Premium also includes the Zacks Style Scores.

What are the Zacks Style Scores?

The Zacks Style Scores, developed alongside the Zacks Rank, are complementary indicators that rate stocks based on three widely-followed investing methodologies; they also help investors pick stocks with the best chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.

Each stock is given an alphabetic rating of A, B, C, D or F based on their value, growth, and momentum qualities. With this system, an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on, meaning the better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform.

The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:

Value Score

Value investors love finding good stocks at good prices, especially before the broader market catches on to a stock's true value. Utilizing ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and many other multiples, the Value Style Score identifies the most attractive and most discounted stocks.

Growth Score

While good value is important, growth investors are more focused on a company's financial strength and health, and its future outlook. The Growth Style Score takes projected and historic earnings, sales, and cash flow into account to uncover stocks that will see long-term, sustainable growth.

Momentum Score

Momentum traders and investors live by the saying "the trend is your friend." This investing style is all about taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook. Employing factors like one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates, the Momentum Style Score can indicate favorable times to build a position in high-momentum stocks.

VGM Score

If you want a combination of all three Style Scores, then the VGM Score will be your friend. It rates each stock on their combined weighted styles, helping you find the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum. It's also one of the best indicators to use with the Zacks Rank.

How Style Scores Work with the Zacks Rank

The Zacks Rank is a proprietary stock-rating model that harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions, or changes to a company's earnings expectations, to help investors build a successful portfolio.

It's highly successful, with #1 (Strong Buy) stocks producing an unmatched +25.41% average annual return since 1988. That's more than double the S&P 500. But because of the large number of stocks we rate, there are over 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, plus another 600 with a #2 (Buy) rank, on any given day.

With more than 800 top-rated stocks to choose from, it can certainly feel overwhelming to pick the ones that are right for you and your investing journey.

That's where the Style Scores come in.

To have the best chance of big returns, you'll want to always consider stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 that also have Style Scores of A or B, which will give you the highest probability of success. If you're looking at stocks with a #3 (Hold) rank, it's important they have Scores of A or B as well to ensure as much upside potential as possible.

The direction of a stock's earnings estimate revisions should always be a key factor when choosing which stocks to buy, since the Scores were created to work together with the Zacks Rank.

A stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, for instance, even one with Scores of A and B, will still have a declining earnings forecast, and a greater chance its share price will fall too.

Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.

Stock to Watch: Globe Life (GL)

Based in McKinney, TX and founded in 1979, Globe Life Inc. (formerly known as Torchmark Corporation) is an insurance holding company for a group of insurance companies that market primarily individual life and supplemental health insurance to lower-middle to middle-income households throughout the United States. Globe Life's insurance subsidiaries write a variety of nonparticipating ordinary life insurance products, which include traditional whole life, term life and other life insurance. Globe Life offers Medicare Supplement and limited-benefit supplemental health insurance products that include primarily critical illness and accident plans.

GL is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of B.

Momentum investors should take note of this Finance stock. GL has a Momentum Style Score of A, and shares are up 0.2% over the past four weeks.

Five analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2024. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.33 to $12.26 per share. GL boasts an average earnings surprise of 4.6%.

With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Momentum and VGM Style Scores, GL should be on investors' short list.

Zacks Investment Research

Blue Owl Capital Corporation OBDC reported third-quarter 2024 earnings per share (EPS) of 47 cents, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. The bottom line declined by 2 cents from a year ago.

The total investment income of Blue Owl Capital amounted to $406.03 million, which increased 1.8% year over year. Also, the top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.6%.

Stay up-to-date with all quarterly releases: See Zacks Earnings Calendar.

Blue Owl Capital’s weak third-quarter earnings were due to higher expenses and lower interest income from non-controlled, non-affiliated investments. The negatives were partially offset by higher investment income from controlled, affiliated investments.

Blue Owl Capital Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Blue Owl Capital Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Blue Owl Capital Corporation Quote

OBDC’s Q3 Update

Net investment income decreased 2.7% year over year to $184.9 million. Also, the metric missed our estimate of $188.9 million. Total new investment commitments (net of sell-downs) were $1.2 billion across 23 new portfolio companies and 14 existing ones.

Blue Owl Capital ended the third quarter with investments in 219 portfolio companies, backed with an aggregate fair value of $13.4 billion. Based on the fair value, the average investment size in each portfolio company was $61.4 million as of Sept. 30, 2024.

Total expenses increased 5.5% from the year-ago period to $217.6 million in the third quarter. The metric was higher than our estimate of $208.9 million, primarily due to higher interest expenses, management fees and other G&A expenses.

The company recorded a net income of $135.4 million in the third quarter compared with $206.9 million in the year-ago period.

Financial Update (as of Sept. 30, 2024)

Blue Owl Capital exited the third quarter with a cash balance of $481.3 million, which declined from $658.7 million as of Dec. 31, 2023. Total assets of $14.09 billion rose from $13.51 billion at 2023-end.

Debt was $7.74 billion, up from $7.08 billion at 2023-end. Blue Owl Capital had $1.6 billion of undrawn capacity under its credit facilities. At the third-quarter end, net debt to equity was 1.23X.

Net cash used in operating activities in the first nine months of 2024 was $285.74 million against the prior-year operating cash flow figure of $721.75 million.

Dividend & Repurchase Update

The board of directors at Blue Owl Capital declared a fourth-quarter 2024 dividend of 37 cents per share, to be paid on or before Jan. 15, 2025, to shareholders of record as of Dec. 31, 2024. It also provided a third-quarter 2024 supplemental dividend of 5 cents per share.

Blue Owl Capital’s board earlier approved a new share repurchase plan for 2024, under which the company may purchase shares up to $150 million. It did not make share repurchases under this program in the third quarter.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

OBDC currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Investors interested in the broader Finance space may look at some better-ranked players like Jackson Financial Inc. JXN, WisdomTree, Inc. WT and Globe Life Inc. GL, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Jackson Financial’s current-year earnings is pegged at $18.79 per share, which indicates 46.3% year-over-year growth. It witnessed one upward estimate revision in the past 30 days against no downward movement. The consensus mark for JXN’s current year revenues suggests a 117.5% surge from a year ago.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WisdomTree’s 2024 earnings indicates 75.7% year-over-year growth. During the past month, WT has witnessed three upward estimate revisions against none in the opposite direction. It beat earnings estimates thrice in the past four quarters and met once, with an average surprise of 7.3%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Globe Life’s current-year earnings suggests a 15.1% year-over-year increase. During the past month, GLhas witnessed five upward estimate revisions against none in the opposite direction. The consensus mark for current-year revenues is pegged at $5.8 billion, a 5.6% increase from a year ago.

Zacks Investment Research