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Zacks.com featured highlights include Sinclair Broadcast Group, Unum Group, Omega Healthcare Investors, Huntington Ingalls Industries and Electronic Arts

Is (AMTD) Outperforming Other Finance Stocks This Year?

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 9, 2017 - Stocks in this week’s article include Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI – Free Report), Unum Group (NYSE: UNM – Free Report), Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (NYSE: OHI – Free Report), Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE: HII – Free Report) and Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: EA – Free Report).

Screen of the Week of Zacks Investment Research:

5 Best Stocks with Solid Sales Growth Worth Investing In

Sales growth is an important metric for any company, as it is a vital part of growth projections and contributes to strategic decision-making. By monitoring this key metric over multiple time periods, one can clearly understand a company’s growth trend.

Sales growth is essential to justify the fixed and variable expenses incurred to operate a business. Low revenues lead to an unprofitable business and negative financial results. Stagnant companies may generate near-term profit, but can’t accelerate enough growth to attract new investors.

Also, in a growing economy, lack of sales growth most likely indicates that the company is not gaining market share over its competitors. In simple terms, some sustained sales growth is required to support the bottom line.

But focusing solely on sales growth is not enough. A healthy sales growth rate is certainly a positive indicator for picking good stocks, but it does not ensure profits. Hence, taking into consideration a company’s cash position along with its sales number can prove to be a more dependable strategy.

 
Substantial cash on hand and a steady cash flow give a company more flexibility with respect to business decisions and potential investments. Sufficient cash also enables a company to endure market downturns. Most importantly, a sufficient cash position indicates that revenues are being channelized in the right direction.

Choosing the Winning Stocks

In order to shortlist stocks that have witnessed impressive sales growth along with a high cash balance, we have selected 5-Year Historical Sales Growth (%) greater than X-Industry and Cash Flow greater than $500 million as our main screening parameters.

But sales growth and cash strength are not the absolute criteria for selecting stocks. So, we added certain other factors to arrive at a winning strategy.

Price-to-Sales (P/S) Ratio less than X-Industry: This metric determines the value placed on each dollar of a company’s revenues. The lower the ratio, the better it is for picking a stock since the investor is paying less for each unit of sales.

% Change F1 Sales Estimate Revisions (4 Weeks) greater than X-Industry: Better-than-industry estimate revision has often been seen to trigger an increase in the stock price.

Operating Margin (Average Last 5 years) greater than 5%: Operating margin measures how much every dollar of a company's sales translates into profits. A high ratio indicates that the company has good cost control and sales are increasing faster than costs, an optimal situation for the company.

Return on Equity (ROE) greater than 5%: This metric will ensure that sales growth is translated into profits and the company is not hoarding cash. A high ROE means the company is spending wisely and is in all likelihood profitable.

Zacks Rank less than or equal to 2: Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) stocks are known to outperform irrespective of the market environment. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Here are five of the 14 stocks that qualified the screening:

Based in Hunt Valley, MD, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI – Free Report) operates as a television broadcasting company. The company has long-term expected earnings per share (EPS) growth rate of 2% and carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Unum Group (NYSE: UNM – Free Report) provides group and individual disability insurance products and services. This Tarrytown, NY-based stock currently has long-term expected EPS growth rate of 7% and carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (NYSE: OHI – Free Report), based in Hunt Valley, MD, is a real estate investment firm, which invests in healthcare facilities. It has long-term expected EPS growth rate of 3% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE: HII – Free Report) engages in designing, building, overhauling, and repairing ships. This Newport News, VA-based company has a long-term expected EPS growth rate of 15% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Headquartered in Redwood City, CA, Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: EA – Free Report) develops, markets, publishes, and distributes games, content, and services. The company currently has a long-term expected EPS growth rate of 16.5% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Get the rest of the stocks on the list and start putting this and other ideas to the test. It can all be done with the Research Wizard stock picking and backtesting software.

The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.

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About Screen of the Week

Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine.  But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use. Each week, Zacks Profit from the Pros free email newsletter shares a new screening strategy. Learn more about it here https://at.zacks.com/?id=112

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Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros.  In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time!Click here for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.

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Contact: Jim Giaquinto

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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/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.


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Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (HII) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBGI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Unum Group (UNM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (OHI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research

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