Federated National Holding, Atlantic Tele-Network, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Embraer highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day

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Jun 09, 2014, 09:30 ET

CHICAGO, June 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Federated National Holding Company (Nasdaq:FNHC-Free Report) as the Bull of the Day and Atlantic Tele-Network (Nasdaq:ATNI-Free Report) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis onLockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT-Free Report), Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN-Free Report) and Embraer S.A. (NYSE:ERJ-Free Report).

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Make no mistake about it, this market is on fire. It really doesn't matter where you look right now. The Dow, the S&P 500, the NASDAQ and the Russell 2000 are all surging higher after the news of further ECB easing. While this risk-on rally may tempt investors to dump money into tech stocks you may want to take a look at a more traditional business. Growth isn't just happening in the sexy sectors and stocks, it's also happening in the tried-and-true insurance business. One of the companies in this industry is our Bull of the Day, Federated National Holding Company (Nasdaq:FNHC-Free Report).

Federated National Holding Company is a vertically integrated insurer operating through Federated National Insurance Company, Federated National Underwriters, Federated National Adjusting and Insure-Link. They underwrite homeowners, commercial, general liability, flood, auto and other insurance products in multiple states across the Southern US.

Over the last 6 quarters, their network of over 3,500 agents has helped increase the total amount of premium in force for $102.3 million at the end of 2012 to $250.2 million in 1Q2014. This huge growth is helping to fuel the stock price and boost earnings.

Bear of the Day:

The last two days have been what I like to call "Dartboard days." Meaning you could put a section of the Wall Street Journal up on a dartboard, throw a dart to pick a stock, and it will go up. A rising tide lifts all the boats. The news from the ECB has done just that. This tide is rising and these bats are up.

But what happens when all the pieces are there for a successful couple of days and your stock still isn't up? That may be a sign that something in wrong. Then if you have a stock that has had negative earnings revisions over the last several months on top of that, you really have to watch out. That's the story right now with our Bear of the Day, Atlantic Tele-Network (Nasdaq:ATNI-Free Report).

Headquartered in Beverly, MA Atlantic is a telecommunications company that provides service to under-served markets in North America and the Caribbean. Through their operating subsidiaries they provide both wireless and wireline connectivity to residential and business customers.

Additional content:

Lockheed on Contract Winning Spree

Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, the prime defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT-Free Report) was the clear winner in yesterday's contract appropriations made by the Department of Defense (DoD). Lockheed won three contracts worth $606.2 million in total.

The largest of the three contracts, worth $452.0 million, was awarded to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. Per the contract, the company will provide reentry system/reentry vehicles (RS/RV) subsystem support as well as procure MMIII RS/RV subsystem and related support equipment.

Lockheed will provide sustaining and maintenance engineering, aging surveillance, modification of systems and equipment, software maintenance, developmental and production engineering. Work is expected to be complete by Jun 4, 2022.

The second contract, worth approximately $134.2 million, also went to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. This modification contract entitled Lockheed to provide highly specialized services to support Ballistic Missile Defense System flight test activities using the contractor's developed target hardware. The Missile Defense Agency is the contracting activity and the task has a completion date of Dec 8, 2018.

The third contract, a minor one worth $20.0 million, calls for Lockheed to provide sustaining engineering services in support of the Consolidated Automated Support System family of testers. Work under this contract is expected to be completed in Jun 2019.

Although the threat of sequestration still lurks over this defense major, negatively impacting the company's first quarter 2014 sales, Lockheed Martin continues to win both big and small contracts.

Recently, Lockheed outmatched its rival bidder Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN-Free Report) to clinch a big ticket contract for building a radar system to track space junk. The contract, valued at a whopping $915 million, involves the creation of a radar system at the Marshall Islands located in northern Pacific Ocean.

The sequester that went into effect at the start of Mar 2013 will cut spending by a total of approximately $1.1 trillion over the eight-year period from 2013 through 2021. Yet, Lockheed Martin expects to perform well in 2014 thanks to technological innovations, big contracts and acquisitions. Lockheed Martin reaffirmed its top-line expectation for 2014 in the range of $44,000 million to $45,500 million.

Currently, the company carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other well-placed defense operators include Zacks Ranked #1 (Strong Buy) Embraer S.A. (NYSE:ERJ-Free Report).

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