Earnings are the single most important metric for a company. Combine that with a healthy Net Profit Margin and you find a screen that has generated a cumulative return of +623.7% since January 2001. For 2006, this Profit Track has returned 23.4%. For the first month of 2007, this Profit Track returned 4.0%. This screen is called the Earnings and Margins Profit Track strategy. Here are four stocks meeting this screen’s exclusive criteria: American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: AFG), G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ: GIII), Partner Communications Company Ltd. (NASDAQ: PTNR) and Standard Parking Corporation (NASDAQ: STAN). View the entire list of stocks for the Earnings and Margins Profit Track at http://at.zacks.com/?id=1858.
Here are four companies that meet the following Earnings and Margins Profit Track:
American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: AFG) remains on the Earnings and Margins profit track because the insurer continues to display solid fundamentals with healthy earnings. The company was last featured in early November, and has since become a Zacks #1 Rank. The company’s most recently-completed year jumped almost 25% over the previous year and its net margin stands at 11%. American Financial Group recently reiterated its core net operating earnings guidance of between $3.75 and $3.95 for 2008. It also announced an agreement to become the majority shareholder in Marketform Group Ltd. for approximately $75 million.
G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ: GIII) experienced an almost 34% rise in its most recently-completed year, compared to the previous year, while its net margin is at 3%. These factors have placed the retailer on the Earnings and Margins profit track, suggesting that it operates on solid ground with good earnings potential moving forward. G-III’s decision to affirm its fiscal year guidance disappointed the Street earlier this month, but the company still announced strong fiscal third-quarter results. Net sales moved forward 10.8% to $271.2 million, while earnings per share matched the consensus. G-III Apparel Group is a Zacks #2 Rank company.
Partner Communications Company Ltd. (NASDAQ: PTNR) is an Israeli mobile communications operator that reported a strong third quarter in late October. Total revenues advanced 9.5% while earnings per share improved on a year-over-year basis. The company also increased its subscriber based by 62,000 in the quarter, bringing the total to approximately 2.8 million. That includes 488,000 3G subscribers. Partner Communications qualifies for this profit track with earnings that gained more than 121% in its most recently-completed quarter, coupled with a net margin of 12%.
Standard Parking Corporation (NASDAQ: STAN) appears to have good fundamentals with healthy earnings growth, which are the main components for this screen. Earnings growth in its most recently-completed year was up more than 26%, while net margin at 6% was well within this profit track’s parameter of greater than or equal to zero. The company reported earnings per share of 47 cents for its third quarter, beating the consensus by almost 24% and bettering the year-ago result of 44 cents. The company also announced same location revenue growth of 5% and raised its full-year guidance for 2007. More recently, Standard Parking’s Board announced a two-for-one stock split and an increase in its stock repurchase authorization.
Discover all the current stocks currently on the Earnings and Margin Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=1859
About Profit Tracks
What is a "Profit Track"? Each Profit Track is a successful stock picking strategy with proven results through the Bear Market of 2001-2002 and the Bull run started in 2003. On Zacks.com we have created these nine unique screens to offer investors great strategies to potentially outperform the market in the years ahead. In 2006, the Low Price Stocks strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +56.5% followed by the Discounted Fundamental screen with a +34% return. To see all nine strategies along with philosophy, past performance, and current stocks, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=1838.
All the Profit Track strategies were created and backtested using the Research Wizard software from Zacks Investment Research. If you like this screening strategy, but want to narrow down the list of stocks and even improve the performance, then you should start a free trial to this powerful stock picking tool. Learn more about the Research Wizard free trial offer and our new special report “Top 10 Stock Screening Strategies” at http://at.zacks.com/?id=1993.
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