NVIDIA, Polaris Industries, IMAX and Walt Disney highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day
Zacks Equity Research
Updated
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – January 04, 2015– Zacks Equity Research highlights NVIDIA (NVDA) as the Bull of the Day and Polaris Industries (PII) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on IMAX Corp. (IMAX) and Walt Disney Company ( DIS).
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Bull of the Day:
NVIDIA (NVDA) was the top performing large-cap semiconductor stock of the fourth quarter, with a stunning 60%+ move higher since their Q2 earnings report in early August.
And tonight at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the company is likely to reveal further insights into their plans to stay hot on technology investor radars in 2016. In fact, they announced on New Year's Eve that they plan to unveil new technology for self-driving cars.
Largely known for its video gaming chips, here's how the company describes their focus...
Since 1993, NVIDIA has pioneered the art and science of visual computing. With a singular focus on this field, the company offers specialized platforms for the gaming, automotive, data center and professional visualization markets. Its products, services and software power amazing new experiences in virtual reality, artificial intelligence and autonomous cars.
Earnings Momentum Leads to Price Momentum
So what drove the fantastic price move in NVDA shares in the past 5 months?
At Zacks, we know it all comes down to earnings momentum. And the way our proprietary model works every day, we consistently find the stocks that are about to move big.
Here's what my colleague Eric Dutram observed on November 16 when he featured NVDA as the Bull of the Day...
"NVDA just crushed earnings expectations for its most recent quarter, posting EPS of 40 cents a share compared to an estimate of just 25 cents per share. This follows up another tremendous beat for the company — NVDA beat by 136% in the previous quarter — and it shows us that this stock has been on fire as of late."
Those earnings beats definitely contributed some style points that helped NVDA maintain a Zacks #1 Rank. But at the core, it's always the upward Earnings Estimate Revisions (EER) from Wall Street analysts that move the needle the most for the top rank.
What made the stock a Strong Buy for Zacks and the rest of Wall Street was the rapidly rising estimates that took the current full-year consensus from $0.79 to $1.04 and next year's consensus from $1.17 to $1.35, representing 30% EPS growth.
Bear of the Day :
Polaris Industries (PII) started earning the Zacks #4 Rank (Sell) last spring when the stock was trading above $150. Entering December, the stock appeared to be finding some footing above $100.
But it was not to last and the traditionally upbeat month for the maker of snowmobiles found the onset of winter to be more cruel than fun.
On December 10, the company announced the recall of over 5,000 snowmobiles and off-road vehicles for various safety issues.
Then on December 17, the company issued an update to guidance that quickly propelled analysts to lower their estimates, resulting in these changes to full-year consensus EPS...
2015: from $7.40 to $6.72
2016: from $8.40 to $7.64
That 9% drop in next year's estimates translates into only 13.7% EPS growth, vs. 2015's expected 1% advance.
Additional content:
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Breaks IMAX Records
IMAX Corp. ’s (IMAX) theaters continue to break box-office collection records with the grand success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In just 12 days after its release, the blockbuster movie raked in $106 million globally.
This figure does not include the contribution from China, IMAX’s biggest international market, where it is slated to release on Jan 9, 2016. The last movie that witnessed such massive success for the theater giant was Jurassic World which achieved the same feat in 18 days but included the sales in China.
IMAX theaters witnessed the highest-ever opening weekend box-office collections from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The movie scooped up nearly $30 million in the U.S. from 391 IMAX theaters. It garnered $18 million internationally across 276 IMAX screens, excluding China. Jurassic World and Iron Man 3 had collected a respective of $44.1 million and $28.8 million, globally.
The film has already earned over $1.2 billion worldwide and is expected to touch the $2 billion mark. We believe that the festive week will drive revenues for IMAX further.
IMAX 3D theaters are integrated with the IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology offering advanced sound quality, high-definition video, customized theatre geometry and advanced digital audio features, significantly enhancing the experience.
IMAX theaters witnessed huge box-office success throughout 2015 supported by The Walt Disney Company’s ( DIS) Star Wars, Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World and Furious 7. Also, Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron generated considerable revenues. Riding on the success of billion-dollar franchisees, IMAX is poised to witness strong top-line growth in the final quarter of 2015.
IMAX’s movie business is also gearing up for a grand 2016 with some big films lined up for release like Marvel’s Civil War and X-Men: Apocalypse Now and DC Comics’ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Recently, IMAX inked a deal with Japan's highest-grossing exhibition company, Toho Cinemas Ltd., a subsidiary of Toho Co. Ltd., for 10 more theaters in the country. Notably, this marks the company’s largest deal in Japan, expanding its footprint from 1 to 11 theaters.
We believe that the release of popular movie franchisees coupled with the opening of new screens globally will continue to drive IMAX’s revenues.
Want to find the best stocks for 2016? Find out more information about the market-crushingZacks Top 10 list here >>>
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