CHICAGO, Aug. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Caesarstone (Nasdaq:CSTE-Free Report) as the Bull of the Day and A Schulman (Nasdaq:SHLM-Free Report) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis ontheKimco Realty Corporation (NYSE:KIM-Free Report), The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD-Free Report) andWal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT-Free Report).
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Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Caesarstone (Nasdaq:CSTE-Free Report) is coming off a really big beat, making it the sixth consecutive quarter that didn't have a negative earnings surprise. CSTE is the Bull of the Day as a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
CSTE has beaten or met the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last six quarters. More to the point, the company has topped the number in five of the six quarters. That is the kind of earnings streak that long term investors love to see.
An even bigger sign of strength is that over the last three quarters, the company was also able to post positive revenue surprises. Those topline beats contributed to the outperformance on the bottom line.
Caesarstone engineers quartz surfaces under the Caesarstone brand primarily in Australia, the United States, Canada, and Israel. Its products consist of engineered quartz slabs, which are used as kitchen countertops in the renovation and remodeling end markets, as well as other applications, including vanity tops, wall panels, back splashes, floor tiles, and other interior surfaces.
On August 7th, the company posted a big beat. In reporting $89M in revenues, the company delivered a positive revenue surprise of $4M or 5.2%.
A Schulman (Nasdaq:SHLM-Free Report) is coming off back to back negative earnings surprises and the most recent one carried a big top line disappointment. It is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). It is the Bear of the Day.
Picking the bear of the day is a difficult thing as it doesn't mean that SHLM is a bad company or even a bad stock. It just means the stock has hit a rough patch with estimates moving lower.
The rubber hit the road for SHLM, a public company since 1972 with 34 manufacturing facilities and 3,300 associates following the most recent earnings report.
A. Schulman supplies plastic compounds and resins for packaging, automotive, consumer products, and industrial applications. The company was founded in 1928 and is headquartered in Akron, Ohio.
The last two quarters have not been that strong. The Feb 2013 quarter saw earnings of $0.27, which were $0.13 less than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.40. That translated into a negative earnings surprise of 32%.
Additional content:
Kimco's Latin American Asset Sale Continues
Retail real estate investment trust (REIT), Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE:KIM-Free Report), continues to scale down its Latin American portfolio. Recently, the company announced the offloading of a 4-property Mexican shopping center portfolio through a purchase and sale deal to its local operating partner, Planigrupo, for $92 million (1.2 billion Mexican pesos). The move is part of Kimco's efforts to overhaul its portfolio in order to improve the core business line.
The wholly-owned assets – La Nogalera in Saltillo, Plaza Universidad in Pachuca, Gran Plaza in Cancun and Plaza Bella Huinala in Monterrey – span a total of 1.1 million square feet. They are occupied by renowned companies such as HEB and Cinépolis, The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD-Free Report) andWal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT-Free Report) affiliated Bodega Aurrera and Suburbia. The deal is slated to close in the fourth quarter of 2013, subject to customary conditions.
Kimco is particularly aiming to strengthen its North American portfolio and reshuffling its joint venture investments to achieve overall efficiency. In line with this, the company has been disposing its non-retail assets and investments as well as non-strategic retail assets to redeploy the capital in its core operations.
In this context, Kimco has been active in disposing its Latin American portfolio in recent times. In the current quarter, Kimco sold its 43% stake in a Guadalajara, Mexico-based asset Centro Sur shopping center, spanning 655,000 square feet, for $41 million (523 million Mexican pesos). Moreover, the company offloaded its 50% stake in a Chile-based 9-property shopping center portfolio, spanning 269,000 square feet, to its local operating partner for $50.2 million (25.3 billion Chilean pesos), including $33.1 million (16.8 billion Chilean pesos) of debt.
Additionally, during second-quarter 2013, Kimco had vended 9 assets of its Mexican shopping center portfolio (spanning 2.6 million square feet) to a local real estate operator for $274 million (3.35 billion Mexican pesos).
We commend Kimco's efforts to improve its core business line. Last month, the company also came up with better-than-expected second-quarter 2013 results benefiting from strong operating portfolio performance.
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