American Railcar Industries, Vitamin Shoppe, Google, Apple and Twitter highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day - Press Releases
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – May 15, 2015– Zacks Equity Research highlights American Railcar Industries, Inc. (ARII) as the Bull of the Day and Vitamin Shoppe, Inc. (VSI) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Google Inc. (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL) and Twitter (TWTR).
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Bull of the Day:
American Railcar Industries, Inc. (ARII) is cashing in on strong railcar demand as well as changes to government regulation. This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) recently reported record quarterly revenues and earnings per share.
American Railcar makes hopper and tank railcars for the railroad industry. It also leases railcars and provides railcar repair and refurbishment through various repair facilities in the United States.
On Apr 29, American Railcar reported first quarter results and blew away the Zacks Consensus by 33%. Earnings were $1.64 compared to the Zacks Consensus of $1.23.
This was a new first quarter record high for earnings, which jumped 69% compared to a year ago.
Revenue soared 45% to $263.8 million from $182.1 million due to an increase in manufacturing revenues from a higher mix of direct sale shipments relative to railcars shipped for the company's lease fleet.
The number of railcars shipped rose 66% to a quarterly record of 2,668 from 1,610 a year ago as hopper railcar shipments increased "significantly" as that market strengthened.
The backlog as of Mar 31 was 10,471 railcars, with an estimated value of $1.1 billion. The percentage of hoppers, versus tank cars, has been increasing as tank car orders have softened.
Bear of the Day :
Vitamin Shoppe, Inc. (VSI) is feeling the wrath of the consumer as the nutritional product retailer recently cut its full year guidance. This Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) is actually going to see earnings decline this year compared to last year.
Vitamin Shoppe operates more than 700 company-operated retail stores in the United States and Canada selling nutritional products including vitamins, minerals, specialty supplements, herbs, sports nutrition, green living products and beauty aids.
It operates under the brands The Vitamin Shoppe, Super Supplements and Vitapath and carries 900 national brand products. It also operates a web site at VitaminShoppe.com.
On Apr 8, Vitamin Shoppe announced it was removing all acacia rigidula containing products over the concern that some might contain BMPEA, from its stores and web site.
BMPEA is a synthetic drug-like substance that has been found in some dietary supplements. According to a study published in Drug Testing and Analysis, some acacia rigidula containing products may also contain BMPEA.
Vitamin Shoppe decided to remove all of these products.
Additional content:
Google Debuts on Apple Watch with News & Weather App
The Verge reports that search giant Google Inc. (GOOGL) has started updating its apps for the Apple ( AAPL) Watch. Its News & Weather app is the first one to debut on the device. The app is free and available for download at Apple's iTunes-based App Store.
Apple’s Watch has supported nearly 3,500 apps including Instagram, Twitter (TWTR) and Evernote since its launch in April. But Google’s apps were missing from Apple’s new platform.
Google has been one of the integral app providers on iOS for a long time, offering a host of its apps to iPhone and iPad users. Now Google is finally making its way onto the Apple Watch as well with its News & Weather app.
The app provides news from numerous global channels. Users can swipe horizontally between the day's top news headlines. But due to the minimalistic user interface, that is, limited screen size, users cannot read the full story on their wrist. They can however Force Touch a specific news item to add them to Safari's reading list.
In the app, headlines are organized into different categories, such as Top Stories, Technology, Sports & Weather, thereby making it easier for the users to browse. It also allows users to customize the app by selecting from 60 country-specific versions and adding personalized news divisions.
Well, Google News & Weather is certainly not the most popular iOS app from Google. We would rather see Gmail (or Inbox), Search, Calendar, Hangouts, and Google+ on the Apple Watch.
Moreover, Apple Watch offers plenty of other news options including NYT Now, CNN, Circa, The Weather Channel, Dark Sky, Weather Underground, and many more. But then again this is Google’s first release for Apple’s wearables world and is at least an indication that Google isn’t going to restrict its apps to its own Android Wear platform. Google might as well be considering bringing its other properties to Apple Watch in the future.
Google has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
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AMER RAILCAR (ARII): Free Stock Analysis Report
VITAMIN SHOPPE (VSI): Free Stock Analysis Report
GOOGLE INC-CL A (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report
APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
TWITTER INC (TWTR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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