CBOE Holdings, U.S. Steel, Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – June 22, 2017 –Zacks Equity Research CBOE Holdings (NASDAQ: CBOE – Free Report ) as the Bull of the Day, U.S. Steel (NYSE: X – Free Report ) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN – Free Report ) and Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM – Free Report ).

Here is a synopsis of all four stocks:

Bull of the Day :

If you are looking for a finance stock that could be on the move, there isn’t really a need to look beyond CBOE Holdings (NASDAQ: CBOE – Free Report ). The company is quickly diversifying its business across the trading landscape, and was actually just added to the S&P 500 index earlier in the year too. Add that to their strategic acquisition of BATS, and the company is setting itself up for strength in a variety of areas, including the quickly-growing segment of Exchange-Traded Funds.

But even beyond growth opportunities, CBOE is doing a great job in the SPX options market. Revenues were up in this key area for their most recent report , and market share crossed the 40% mark too. Volumes are also accelerating in this area, up 15% year-over-year, and 40% when comparing 2016 to 2012 figures; options volume is clearly moving in the right direction.

There is definitely a lot to like about CBOE right now, and that will only be more apparent if volatility levels pick back up and increase demand for index options, and VIX-linked instruments too. No wonder analysts have been raising their estimates for CBOE stock as of late, and why more strength could be ahead in shares of CBOE too.

Analyst Activity

We have seen near universal agreement among covering analysts on the prospects for CBOE in the near-term. For the current year, we have seen six estimates go higher in the past sixty days compared to zero lower, while the next year time frame has seen seven estimates go higher compared to zero lower.

The magnitude of these estimate increases has also had an impressive impact on the consensus. The full year consensus has increased by about 10% in the past sixty days, while the following year consensus has gone higher by close to 6.5% in the same time frame.

CBOE also has a great history of living up to earnings expectations, while the most accurate estimate is also higher than the consensus right now. This suggests that the most recent estimates have been even more bullish about CBOE’s earnings prospects, which is usually a good sign of things to come.

Bear of the Day :

To start the year, things were looking pretty promising for U.S. Steel (NYSE:X – Free Report ). The economy was firing on all cylinders, politics appeared to be on their side, and there was plenty of hope for a strong year in X stock. However, while the start of the year was pretty good, some cracks have started to appear in the U.S. Steel story.

This was especially the case in the company’s most recent earnings report, as U.S. Steel posted a horrific miss that was a loss of 83 cents per share compared to expectations of a 32 cent per share profit. The outlook was also pretty poor for U.S. Steel, and that is a big part of the reason that the stock has struggled so much in the past few months.

U.S. Steel Numbers in Focus

In fact, we have seen universal agreement among analysts in our consensus that the earnings picture is getting much worse for U.S. Steel. And that is not just for the current quarter, but for the current year and next year periods too.

The magnitude of these cuts has also been pretty bad, as the consensus for the current year has collapsed from $3.37/share 60 days ago to just $1.05/share today. To make matters even worse, the most accurate estimate on X stock is now at just 60 cents per share, a roughly 80% cut from just two months ago!

Clearly, the earnings picture and outlook is quite poor for U.S. Steel. As such, it shouldn’t be a surprise at all that the company has earned itself a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) and that we are looking for the sluggish trading as of late to continue, so long as the earnings picture remains this terrible.

Additional content:

The Complete Guide to Everything Owned by Amazon

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN – Free Report ) is one of the biggest e-commerce companies in the world. Known for its vast array of things to buy, from books and electronics to food and clothing, Amazon has changed the way people think of shopping, in particular online shopping, since its founding in 1994.

Just last week, Amazon announced that it was acquiring Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM – Free Report ), one of the country’s premiere organic grocery chains, in an effort to expand its brick-and-mortar offerings (also read: Amazon Scoops Up Whole Foods in $13.7 Billion Deal ).

The company has grown enormously since its beginnings as an online bookstore, creating many different business segments and amassing a large collection of assets. Besides its home website, what else does Amazon own and operate? Here’s a breakdown of everything the Internet retailer has a presence in.

A Digital Colossus

Under the Amazon brand umbrella, there are several business segments.

Online Services

Amazon Prime

Launched in 2005, Prime is Amazon’s most popular consumer service. Prime basically functions as a VIP membership program; for a yearly fee of $99, Prime members get access to special deals, free two-day shipping, and many of Amazon’s other services. In January, it was reported that Prime now reaches nearly half of U.S. households.

Amazon Video

Amazon Video is the company’s online video streaming service. Available to all Prime members, Amazon Video offers an on-demand library of thousands of movies and TV shows, including original productions. Just a few days ago, the company announced that it will begin offering separate Prime Video subscriptions, allowing non-Prime users access to Video for just $8.99 per month.

Amazon Cloud Drive & Cloud Player

Amazon Cloud Drive is a cloud-based storage application. For $11.99 per year, users get up to five gigabytes of cloud storage, while unlimited storage goes for $59.99 per year. Cloud Player is an accompanying music streaming application that allows users unlimited streaming from their cloud.

Amazon Web Services

Web Services is a collection of enterprise-level computing platforms designed for other web sites or client-side applications. The general idea is that by subscribing to AWS, companies can build their computing capacity much easier, quicker, and cheaper than developing their own physical servers. AWS has exploded over the past year or so, with revenues growing nearly 70% from 2014 to 2015. While margins on the e-commerce side remain thin, Amazon has finally been able to generate profits thanks to AWS.

Amazon Fresh & Amazon Prime Pantry

Amazon Fresh is a same-day home grocery delivery system available in select cities. Prime Pantry is a similar service, offered everywhere in the continental United States, which allows for the delivery of non-perishable groceries for a flat fee.

Amazon Dash

Dash is a relatively new service that offers Prime customers the ability to instantly re-order household goods via the click of a physical button which corresponds to that product and can be placed throughout the home.

Consumer Electronics

Amazon Kindle

Kindle is the product that really put Amazon on the consumer electronics map. The Kindle brand is a line of portable e-book readers. Amazon also offers a Kindle-based library of e-books available for purchase and download.

Amazon Echo

The Amazon Echo is at the forefront of the home automation movement. Sometimes referred to as a “smart speaker,” Echo devices utilize Amazon’s Alexa software. Echo speakers can play music, set alarms, and link to compatible devices like light dimmers and smart thermostats.

Fire TV

Fire TV is a video streaming device that is compatible with Amazon Video and other applications. It’s one of a number of options for “cord-cutters” and can be plugged in to a TV, allowing for direct streaming.

Subsidiaries

In addition to these business ventures, Amazon has acquired quite the collection of smaller companies over the years. Let’s take a look at some of the conglomerate’s biggest subsidiaries:

Audible

Audible Inc. is one of Amazon's most well-known subsidiaries, and is the largest producer and retailer of audio books in the United States, Amazon acquired Audible in 2008 for $300 million. In addition to selling audio books, Audible provides its users with audio versions of newspapers, magazines, and radio programs.

CreateSpace

CreateSpace operates in the content publishing and distribution industry, offering a self-publishing platform that allows independent filmmakers, musicians, and authors to publish their work and distribute it on demand. The company is a result of two acquisitions Amazon made in 2005—CustomFlix and BookSurge—which later merged in 2009 to form what is now CreateSpace.

A9.com

Acquired in 2003, A9.com is a developer of search and advertising technology. The company is currently working on projects involving product search, cloud search, visual search, advertising technology, and community question answering.

Twitch.tv

Twitch is a live streaming video platform, primarily focusing on video gaming. Most of Twitch’s streams include live coverage of competitive gaming events, playthroughs of video games, and live multiplayer gaming.

Goodreads

Goodreads is an example of what is called a “social cataloging” tool. Users can freely search through the site’s massive database of books, annotations, and reviews.

Woot

Woot is an online retailer. The main theme of the site is that it offers one discounted product per day.

IMDb

Also known as the “Internet Movie Database,” IMDb is an extensive film catalog that publicly displays casting, production, and other facts for basically every movie imaginable.

Zappos

Zappos.com is an online shoe and clothing retailer. The site launched in 1999 and was purchased by Amazon in 2009 for a massive $1.2 billion price tag. Zappos is one of the largest online shoe stores in the word.

Others

Realistically, the list of Amazon subsidiaries would go on like a scroll from the Library of Alexandria. Other notable Amazon-owned brands include Alexa.com, DPReview, Box Office Mojo, AbeBooks, Double Helix Games, Brilliance Audio, Shelfari, and Beijing Century Joyo Courier Services.

Want more stock market analysis from this author? Make sure to follow @ Ryan_McQueeney on Twitter!

Zacks’ Hidden Trades

While we share many recommendations and ideas with the public, certain moves are hidden from everyone but chosen members of our portfolio services. Would you like to peek behind the curtain today and view them?

Starting today, and for the next month, you can follow all Zacks’ private buys and sells in real time. Our experts cover all kinds of trades: value, momentum, ETFs, stocks under $10, stocks that corporate insiders are buying up, and companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside portfolios so exclusive that they are normally closed to new investors. Click here for Zacks’ secret trades>>

Get today’s Zacks #1 Stock of the Day with your free subscription to Profit from the Pros newsletter:

About the Bull and Bear of the Day

Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous analyst coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>.

Get the full Report on CBOE - FREE

Get the full Report on X - FREE

Get the full Report on AMZN - FREE

Get the full Report on WFM - FREE

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.

Media Contact

Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

support@zacks.com

https://www.zacks.com

Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer .

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.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
Click for Free CBOE Holdings, Inc. (CBOE) Stock Analysis Report >>
 
Click for Free United States Steel Corporation (X) Stock Analysis Report >>
 
Click for Free Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) Stock Analysis Report >>
 
Click for Free Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM) Stock Analysis Report >>
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research