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HK Real Estate Industry
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It doesn't matter your age or experience: taking full advantage of the stock market and investing with confidence are common goals for all investors. Luckily, Zacks Premium offers several different ways to do both.
The popular research service can help you become a smarter, more self-assured investor, giving you access to daily updates of the Zacks Rank and Zacks Industry Rank, the Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research reports, and Premium stock screens.
It also includes access to the Zacks Style Scores.
What are the Zacks Style Scores?
The Zacks Style Scores is a unique set of guidelines that rates stocks based on three popular investing types, and were developed as complementary indicators for the Zacks Rank. This combination helps investors choose securities with the highest chances of beating the market over the next 30 days.
Based on their value, growth, and momentum characteristics, each stock is assigned a rating of A, B, C, D, or F. The better the score, the better chance the stock will outperform; an A is better than a B, a B is better than a C, and so on.
The Style Scores are broken down into four categories:
Value Score
For value investors, it's all about finding good stocks at good prices, and discovering which companies are trading under their true value before the broader market catches on. The Value Style Score utilizes ratios like P/E, PEG, Price/Sales, Price/Cash Flow, and a host of other multiples to help pick out the most attractive and 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 investors, who live by the saying "the trend is your friend," are most interested in taking advantage of upward or downward trends in a stock's price or earnings outlook. Utilizing one-week price change and the monthly percentage change in earnings estimates, among other factors, the Momentum Style Score can help determine favorable times to buy high-momentum stocks.
VGM Score
What if you like to use all three types of investing? The VGM Score is a combination of all Style Scores, making it one of the most comprehensive indicators to use with the Zacks Rank. It rates each stock on their combined weighted styles, which helps narrow down the companies with the most attractive value, best growth forecast, and most promising momentum.
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.
#1 (Strong Buy) stocks have produced an unmatched +25.41% average annual return since 1988, which is more than double the S&P 500's performance over the same time frame. However, the Zacks Rank examines a ton of stocks, and there can be more than 200 companies with a Strong Buy rank, and 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.
As mentioned above, the Scores are designed to work with the Zacks Rank, so any change to a company's earnings outlook should be a deciding factor when picking which stocks to buy.
Here's an example: a stock with a #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) rating, even one with Style Scores of A and B, still has a downward-trending earnings outlook, and a bigger chance its share price will decrease too.
Thus, the more stocks you own with a #1 or #2 Rank and Scores of A or B, the better.
Stock to Watch: Costco (COST)
Based in Issaquah, Washington, Costco Wholesale Corporation sells high volumes of foods and general merchandise (including household products and appliances) at discounted prices through membership warehouses. It is one of the largest warehouse club operators in the United States. The company also operates e-commerce sites in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.
COST is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of B.
It also boasts a Value Style Score of B thanks to attractive valuation metrics like a forward P/E ratio of 50.87; value investors should take notice.
Three analysts revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for fiscal 2024, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0 to $16.22 per share. COST also boasts an average earnings surprise of 2.3%.
With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Value and VGM Style Scores, COST should be on investors' short list.
Zacks Investment Research
Kroger Co and Albertsons Companies, Inc. shares closed lower Tuesday after lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gave closing arguments in a hearing to temporarily block the proposed merger between the two companies.
The Details: The three-week-long U.S. District Court hearing ended on Tuesday. The FTC urged Judge Adrienne Nelson to issue a preliminary injunction to block the merger while its complaint goes before an in-house administrative law judge on Oct.1.
Read Next: What Happened With MicroStrategy Stock Today?
The proposed $24.6 billion deal would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history, if it goes through. Kroger and Albertsons argue the merger would allow them to lower prices for consumers, boost union jobs and compete with retail giants like Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com, Inc. .
According to a Reuters report, the FTC's chief trial counsel Susan Musser argued Tuesday that Kroger and Albertsons primarily compete with each other, rather than Amazon or Costco Wholesale Corporation , as well, and the merger would eliminate competition, leading to higher food prices for customers.
"It's this local competition, in these local communities, that this merger will eliminate," Musser said.
KR, ACI Price Action: According to Benzinga Pro, Kroger shares ended Tuesday's session 2.13% lower at $55.04 and Albertsons shares closed 1.75% lower at $18.54.
Read Also:
Photo: Shutterstock
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
As the Federal Reserve transitions from a restrictive monetary policy to a more accommodative stance, investors are questioning how this regime change will impact various asset classes.
The central bank’s shift towards lower interest rates can have far-reaching implications across equities, bonds, and other markets.
Historically, stocks have tended to perform well following the Fed’s initial rate cuts—but with a crucial caveat: the economy must avoid slipping into a recession. An analysis by Goldman Sachs reveals that the S&P 500 has experienced significant declines even after rate cuts if the U.S. economy entered a recession during those periods.
When it comes to bonds, lower interest rates have generally led to a decrease in bond yields, thus driving up bond prices. Unlike equities, this dynamic has historically played out somewhat independently of the economic cycle. However, “what's past is prologue” is not always a guarantee in financial markets.
‘Quality Can Be Found Across Asset Classes’
According to Bank of America’s latest Research Investment Committee (RIC) report, investors can identify quality opportunities across various asset classes, particularly in today’s shifting market landscape.
BofA analysts suggest that in the U.S. equity space, investors should adopt a defensive stance, focusing on companies with high free cash flow.
Savita Subramanian, head of U.S. equity & quantitative strategy at BofA, notes that S&P 500 valuations indicate low price returns for the next decade, making dividend payouts more crucial for total returns.
Outside the U.S., Bank of America is bullish on Japanese equities as effective corporate reforms are expected “to unleash a mountain of cash.” The WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity ETF is a top pick in this market, having gained 125% since 2019. This ETF also offers protection against the yen’s devaluation.
In the fixed-income market, BofA suggests exposure to AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and long-dated Treasury bonds.
Asset Class | Name | |
---|---|---|
Equities | ||
Utilities | First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX ETF | |
Utilities | Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund | |
Real Estate | Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund | |
Real estate | iShares Cohen & Steers REIT ETF | |
Consumer staples | Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF | |
Consumer staples | iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF | |
Value | Vanguard Value ETF | |
Quality | Pacer US Cash Cows 100 ETF | |
Dividend | Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF | |
Buybacks | iShares Core Dividend ETF | |
Japan | Wisdom Tree Japan Hedged Equity ETF | |
Fixed income | ||
Credit | Janus Henderson AAA CLO ETF | |
Duration | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF |
Read Next:
Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
The Fidelity MSCI Consumer Staples Index ETF (FSTA) was launched on 10/21/2013, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Consumer Staples - Broad segment of the equity market.
While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.
Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Consumer Staples - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 10, placing it in bottom 38%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Fidelity. It has amassed assets over $1.20 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Staples - Broad segment of the equity market. FSTA seeks to match the performance of the MSCI USA IMI Consumer Staples Index before fees and expenses.
The MSCI USA IMI Consumer Staples Index represents the performance of the consumer staples sector in the U.S. equity market.
Costs
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.08%, making it the least expensive product in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.81%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Staples sector--about 99.80% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Procter + Gamble Co/the Common Stock (PG) accounts for about 11.95% of total assets, followed by Costco Wholesale Corp Common Stock Usd.005 (COST) and Walmart Inc Common Stock Usd.1 (WMT).
The top 10 holdings account for about 62.46% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added roughly 17.15% and was up about 19.64% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 09/17/2024), respectively. FSTA has traded between $40.85 and $51.72 during this last 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 0.60 and standard deviation of 13.26% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 108 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Fidelity MSCI Consumer Staples Index ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, FSTA is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Consumer Staples ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.
Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Staples 25/50 Index and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) tracks Consumer Staples Select Sector Index. Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF has $7.38 billion in assets, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF has $18.53 billion. VDC has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLP charges 0.09%.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
Zacks Investment Research
For Immediate Releases
Chicago, IL – September 17, 2024 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: as Walmart Inc. WMT, Costco Wholesale Corp. COST and The Home Depot, Inc. HD.
Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:
Retail Stocks to Counter the "September Effect"
September is often marked by increased market volatility, a phenomenon known as the "September Effect," which can lead to declines in equity markets due to economic factors, investor caution or profit-taking. This year, the stakes are even higher as the market closely watches the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting starting Tuesday, where policymakers are expected to announce the first interest rate cut in more than four years.
A Fed rate cut, seen as a move to stimulate economic growth, could provide a temporary boost, but it also signals underlying concerns about the broader economy. In this context, blue-chip retail stocks, such as Walmart Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp. and The Home Depot, Inc., offer a compelling option for those looking to weather September’s uncertainties.
Why Blue-Chip Retail Stocks Are a Safe Bet
These blue-chip giants are known for their financial strength and history of delivering reliable returns to shareholders. They tend to be less volatile than other stocks, making them dependable choices for both seasoned investors and those newer to the market. They often provide steady dividend payouts, adding an extra layer of stability.
These retailers have strong market positions, excellent brand recognition, loyal customer bases and broad market reach. These factors provide them with a competitive edge and open up new growth opportunities. As the holiday season approaches, they are expected to see increased demand, making them attractive investment options right now.
If you are looking to safeguard your investments while still finding growth opportunities, here are three blue-chip retail stocks to keep on your radar.
3 Blue-Chip Retail Stocks to Watch
Walmart: Embracing Technology for Growth
Walmart has been working to strengthen its already formidable presence in the market. The company has embarked on a series of strategic e-commerce initiatives, encompassing acquisitions, partnerships and significant improvements in its delivery and payment systems. Walmart is committed to elevating its merchandise offerings, ensuring a diverse and appealing product assortment. Innovation extends to its supply chain, wherein the company is enhancing capacity and introducing cutting-edge solutions.
As of Friday’s session, Walmart’s market capitalization stood at $647.9 billion. This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 6.9%, on average. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Walmart’s current financial-year sales and earnings per share (EPS) suggests growth of 4.7% and 9.9%, respectively, from the year-ago reported numbers. The company pays out a quarterly dividend of about 21 cents per share (83 cents annualized). WMT’s payout ratio is 35, with a five-year dividend growth rate of 2.3%. (Check WMT’s dividend history here)
Costco: Leveraging Membership Model for Success
Costco has been navigating the market’s ups and downs pretty well. Strategic investments, a customer-centric approach, merchandise initiatives and an emphasis on memberships have been this discount retailer’s primary strengths. Costco's distinctive membership business model and pricing power set it apart from traditional players. Through a calculated approach that involves identifying untapped markets and tailoring offerings to meet customer preferences, Costco has managed to deepen its roots.
Costco has a market cap of $406.1 billion. This Zacks #3 Ranked company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 2.3%, on average.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Costco’s current financial-year sales and EPS implies growth of 5.1% and 10.4%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s actuals. The company pays out a quarterly dividend of $1.16 per share ($4.64 annualized). COST’s payout ratio is 29, with a five-year dividend growth rate of 12.6%.
Home Depot: Capitalizing on Home Improvement Trends
Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Home Depot stands as another distinguished blue-chip stock, dominating the home improvement retail sector. Its consistent expansion in both Professional and Do-It-Yourself segments, fortified by an extensive product lineup and digital innovations, underpins its remarkable success.
The company's interconnected retail strategy and robust technological infrastructure have amplified web traffic, leading to growth in digital sales. As mortgage rates decline, it could potentially stimulate homebuying activity and drive demand for renovation and remodeling projects.
Home Depot has a market cap of $377.4 billion. This Zacks Rank #3 company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 1.6%, on average.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Home Depot’s current financial-year sales calls for growth of 3.2% from the year-ago period’s reported number. The company pays out a quarterly dividend of $2.25 ($9.00 annualized) per share. HD’s payout ratio is 60, with a five-year dividend growth rate of 11.5%.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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