Zacks.com Featured Highlights Include: Sonic Automotive, Target, Envision Healthcare, Beazer Homes And Group 1

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – January 11, 2018 - Stocks in this week’s article Sonic Automotive (NYSE:SAH) , Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) , Envision Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:EVHC) , Beazer Homes USA (NYSE:BZH) and Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) .

5 Stocks in the Limelight on Recent Broker Upgrades

Proper guidance is often the difference between success and failure in life. The same holds true for the investing world. The need for proper guidance is all the more required now as the Q4 earnings season is just round the corner. This is because investors would look to add stocks to their respective portfolios, which have the potential to surpass earnings expectations in the current reporting cycle. This is because an earnings beat generally leads to stock price appreciation.

The task of designing one’s portfolio with outperformers is by no means an easy one. The uncertainties in the investment world make the task a daunting one. Moreover, a deluge of stocks flood the market at any given point in time. In the absence of proper guidance, identifying a winning stock is akin to searching for ‘a needle in a haystack’, for an investor. The proper guidance, in this respect, comes from brokers, who are deemed to be experts, equipped with vast knowledge of investing.

Of the three types of brokers/analysts (sell-side, buy-side and independent) present in the investment world, sell-side analysts are most common. Various brokerage firms employ them to provide unbiased opinion to investors after thorough research. Buy-side analysts are employed by hedge funds, mutual funds etc. while the independent ones simply sell their reports to investors.

Earnings Estimate Revisions – A Proper Guide

Broker ratings are backed by sound logic and are by no means arbitrary. Brokers, not only scrutinize the publicly available financial documents, but also attend company conference calls and other presentations. Naturally, it is in the best interest of investors to pay heed to such well-researched information as they aim to generate maximum returns from their portfolio.

Since brokers closely follow the stocks in their coverage, they revise earnings estimates only after carefully examining the pros and cons of an event for the concerned company. In fact, a rating upgrade or downgrade by brokers has the potential to influence the price of the stock.

Naturally, when investors see brokers revising their estimates or recommendation on a stock, they often assume that there is something in the stock that has attracted analyst attention. In fact, a rating upgrade generally leads to stock price appreciation. Similarly, the price of a stock may plummet following a rating downgrade.

Estimates can move north for a number of reasons – favorable earnings performance, a bullish guidance, product launch or any favorable macro scenario.

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/288425/5-stocks-in-the-limelight-on-recent-broker-rating-upgrades

Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

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