CHICAGO, Nov. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:VAC-Free Report) as the Bull of the Day and Lumber Liquidators (NYSE:LL-Free Report) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis onTesla Motors (Nasdaq:TSLA-Free Report) and Whole Foods (Nasdaq:WFM-Free Report).
Here is a synopsis of all four stocks:
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:VAC-Free Report) is cashing in on strong global travel conditions. This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) recently raised full year 2014 guidance and initiated its first ever dividend.
Marriott Vacations is a timeshare company which manages 59 resorts with about 420,000 owners and member worldwide. Its brands include Marriott Vacation Club, The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club and Grand Residences by Marriott.
It was spun off from Marriott International in 2011.
On Oct 16, Marriott Vacations reported third quarter results. It actually missed on the Zacks Consensus by a penny, however, it raised and narrowed full year guidance to a range of $2.67- $2.84 from $2.64- $2.82.
The analysts responded by raising estimates to get in line with the new guidance.
The 2014 Zacks Consensus Estimate rose to $2.82 from $2.73 since the report. That's earnings growth of 22.2%.
Double digit earnings growth is also expected for 2015 with analysts expecting another 12.5% rise in earnings.
Company development margin rose to 21.5% from 21.1% a year ago with North America development margin rising even more, to 24.4% from 22.7%.
Lumber Liquidators (NYSE:LL-Free Report) can no longer blame its struggles on the weather, as it did early in 2014. This Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) lowered full year guidance in October as sales continued to be weak.
Lumber Liquidators is the largest retailer of hardwood flooring, with 350 locations featuring 350 flooring varieties, including solid and engineered hardwood, bamboo, cork, laminate, and resilient vinyl.
After struggling in the first half of 2014 due to the polar vortex winter which did, legitimately, hit the retailers hard, Lumber Liquidators still continued to struggle in the third quarter.
On Oct 22, it reported third quarter results which missed on the Zacks Consensus by 13%. Earnings were just $0.58 versus the Zacks Consensus of $0.67.
Sales rose just 4.6% to $266.1 million from $254.3 million with comparable stores sales actually falling 4.9%.
The company tried to spin the quarter by saying that every month in the quarter was stronger than the previous one with August being strongest due to the beginning of the fall flooring season.
Yet gross margin still fell to 39.2% from 41.8% a year ago due to shifts in the sales mix, greater promotions and discounting and greater costs of inventory.
Additional content:
Tesla, Whole Foods Report After-Hours Wednesday
Two innovators in their respective markets -- Tesla Motors (Nasdaq:TSLA-Free Report) and Whole Foods (Nasdaq:WFM-Free Report) -- have reported earnings results for their September quarters after the bell Wednesday, and both companies performed admirably.
Tesla brought in a big revenue surprise of $932 million in quarterly revenues on a loss per share of 29 cents (constituting a big miss from the -15 cents expected, although quarterly EPS numbers are not what Tesla investors tend to focus on), whereas Whole Foods beat on the bottom line with a profit of 35 cents per share on sales of $3.26 billion, beating the 32 cents per share and $3.25 billion expected.
Both companies share prices have been on rollercoaster rides for the past several months as both companies have been enduring challenges to their businesses. In Tesla's case, a factory shutdown in July, coupled with expenses related to the company's Gigafactory and an expected push-back of deliveries of its Model X crossover have helped Tesla shares slide more than 9% over the past month before today's closing bell.
Although Tesla has lowered its guidance for total deliveries in fiscal 2014 -- from 35K previously to 33K now -- and its delayed release of the Model X to Q3 of 2015, shares in the after-market, while fluctuating wildly for awhile, are now up over 5%. The company was clear in its statement that its issues are supply-constrained, not demand-constrained, and the company's all-wheel drive version of the Model S has required a bit of extra work in the quarter as well.
That said, Tesla expects to deliver 2000 cars per week by the end of fiscal 2015.
Whole Foods posted its second quarterly earnings beat in a row after the bell Wednesday. On comparable store sales, the company saw 5.9% growth in its fiscal Q4 2014. The company's beat on both top and bottom lines was accompanied a 20% increase in quarterly dividend as well as a share repurchase authorization of $500 million.
The long-awaited turnaround for Whole Foods seems to have taken hold, as competitors have crept into the high-end grocery space Whole Foods dominated for years. The company noted that its current quarter (Q1-15) trends are up 4.6%, higher than projections for the entire quarter. Same-store sales for fiscal 2015 have also guided higher.
Comp store sales in particular seem to be where Whole Foods has gained ground in Q4, especially compared to the previous quarter, when WFM shares were crushed in the after-market following its Q3 earnings report. Currently the shares have gained 6% in late trading today, following the earnings announcement. Whole Foods possessed a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) prior to the earnings announcement.
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