Comtech Telecommunications (NASDAQ:CMTL) is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) despite beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the most recent quarter. Stocks that miss the number don’t always fall to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) so let’s take a look at why that is the case in this Bear of the Day article.
Description
Comtech Telecommunications Corp. designs, develops, produces and markets innovative products, systems and services for advanced communications solutions. The Company sells products to a diverse customer base in the global commercial and government communications markets. The Company believes many of its solutions play a vital role in providing or enhancing communication capabilities when terrestrial communications infrastructure is unavailable, inefficient or too expensive. The Company conducts business through three complementary segments: telecommunications transmission, RF microwave amplifiers and mobile data communications.
Earnings History
When I look at a stock, the first thing I do is look to see if the company is beating the number. This tells me right away where the market’s expectations have been for the company and how management has communicated to the market. A stock that consistently beats has management communicating expectations to Wall Street that can be achieved. That is what you want to see.
In the case of CMTL, I see two beats, a meet and a miss of the Zacks Consensus Estimate over the last year. This alone does not make the stock a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and it doesn’t make it a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) either.
The Zacks Rank does care about the earnings history, but it is much more heavily influenced by the movement of earnings estimates.
Earnings Estimates
The Zacks Rank tells us which stocks are seeing earnings estimates move higher or in this case lower. For CMTL I see estimates dropping.
This quarter has increased from $0.16 to -$0.09.
Next quarter has moved from $0.33 to $0.09 over the last 60 days.
The Zacks Rank is more heavily influenced by the move in the annual numbers, and the movement is mixed for those numbers.
The 2021 consensus number has increased from $0.75 to $0.70.
The 2022 number has decreased from $1.10 to $0.90 over the last 60 days.
Negative movement in earnings estimates like that is why this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
It should be noted that a majority of stocks in the Zacks universe are seeing positive earnings estimate revisions. That means that the stocks that are seeing small but negative earnings estimate revisions are falling to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
Chart
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