CHICAGO, Nov. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include the Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN-Free Report), Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL-Free Report), Google (Nasdaq:GOOG-Free Report), Jarden Corp (NYSE:JAH-Free Report) and James Hardie Industries plc (NYSE:JHX-Free Report).
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101027/ZIRLOGO)
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.
Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:
Amazon Launches WorkSpaces
Amazon Web Services, an Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN-Free Report) company, recently unveiled WorkSpaces, a new virtual desktop infrastructure on Amazon's cloud. The subscription price ranges from $35 to $60 a month per user, depending on the amount of computing power and storage the user requires. A license for Microsoft Office and an antivirus software would cost another $15 a month per user.
The main aim of Amazon WorkSpaces is to make desktop computing available to all mobile devices. The service costs much less when compared to the amount that companies would have to incur to run their own virtualization servers.
WorkSpaces enables customers to easily provision cloud-based desktops that allow end-users to access documents, applications and resources through laptops, iPad, Kindle Fire, Android tablets and so on. WorkSpaces is quite flexible. Since all the data is stored in the cloud and not on devices, security concerns are comparatively less.
Amazon has gone on to become a veritable consumer electronics giant from being an Internet retailer initially. The company is planning to refresh its line-up of Kindle Fire tablets in the next few months. However, Amazon might not stop there. If rumors are to be believed, the company has many more devices in the works, including a smartphone, an audio streaming device and an Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL-Free Report) TV competitor.
Though Amazon's hardware competes with both Apple and Google (Nasdaq:GOOG-Free Report), it's much more destructive for the search giant. This is because Amazon has adopted Google's Android operating system, but not Google Play. It is believed that Amazon WorkSpaces will give good competition to Google, which, with its Chromebook and Google Drive, has already offered products with features enabling cheaper ways of computing online installed.
Currently, Amazon has a Zacks Rank # 3 (Hold). Currently, Jarden Corp (NYSE:JAH-Free Report) with a Zacks Rank # 2 (Buy) can also be considered as a lucrative investment.
James Hardie Upgraded to Strong Buy
On Nov 16, Zacks Investment Research upgraded fiber cement products maker James Hardie Industries plc (NYSE:JHX-Free Report) to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Why the Upgrade?
Shares of James Hardie have gained 16% since it reported second-quarter fiscal 2014 (ended Sep 30, 2013) results on Nov 14. Adjusted earnings went up 44% year over year to 12.7 cents per share. However, the results lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 58 cents.
Revenues also increased 17% year over year to $392 million. But it marginally fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $396 million. The growth was mainly led by enhanced sales volume and higher sales price in the USA and Europe Fibre Cement and the Asia Pacific Fibre Cement segments.
James Hardie forecasts earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) margin for fiscal 2014 to be above 20% in the USA and Europe Fibre Cement segment due to improvement in the underlying market demand and financial performance.
The company will also benefit from imminent recovery in the U.S. housing market. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), average monthly single-family building permits were 59,000 (for the five months ended 31, Aug 2013), up 23%, and multi-family building permits were 29,500, a 12% rise compared to the corresponding prior five-month period.
Following the second-quarter earnings announcement, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for James Hardie rose 4.7% to $2.24 per share for fiscal 2014 (ended Mar 31, 2014) and 6% to $2.80 a share for fiscal 2015 (ended Mar 31, 2015).
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.
About Zacks Equity Research
Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.
Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.
Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today.
About Zacks
Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.
Get the full Report on AMZN - FREE
Get the full Report on GOOG - FREE
Get the full Report on JAH - FREE
Get the full Report on JAX - FREE
Get the full Report on AAPL - FREE
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zacksresearch
Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Media Contact
Zacks Investment Research
800-767-3771 ext. 9339
[email protected]
http://www.zacks.com
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
SOURCE Zacks Investment Research, Inc.
Share this article