Cross Country Healthcare and AnheuserBusch InBev have been highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – May 17, 2022 – Zacks Equity Research Cross Country Healthcare CCRN  as the Bull of the Day and AnheuserBusch InBev BUD asthe Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Walmart's WMT, Macy's M and Home Depot HD

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Cross Country Healthcare is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) that recently reported a strong quarter but this stock has been sliding.  The pandemic certainly caused demand and wages for healthcare professionals to soar, but is that run over?  Let's explore more about this stock in this Bull Of The Day article.

Description

Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. is a national leader in providing innovative healthcare workforce solutions and staffing services. Their diverse client base includes both clinical and nonclinical settings, servicing acute care hospitals, physician practice groups, outpatient and ambulatory-care centers, nursing facilities, both public schools and charter schools, rehabilitation and sports medicine clinics, government facilities, and homecare.

They are able to place clinicians on travel and per diem assignments, local short-term contracts and permanent positions. They are a market leader in providing flexible workforce management solutions, which include managed services programs (MSP), internal resource pool consulting and development, electronic medical record (EMR) transition staffing, recruitment process outsourcing, predictive modeling and other outsourcing and consultative services.

Earnings History

When I look at a stock, the first thing I do is look to see if the company is beating the number.  This tells me right away where the market's expectations have been for the company and how management has communicated to the market.  A stock that consistently beats has management communicating expectations to Wall Street that can be achieved.  That is what you want to see.

For CCRN, I see four straight quarters where the company beat of the Zacks Consensus Estimate.  That is always good to see, but by itself that is not enough to make the company a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

The average positive earnings surprise over the course of the last year works out to be 29%.

Earnings Estimates Revisions

The Zacks Rank tells us which stocks are seeing earnings estimates move higher.  For PPC, I see annual estimates moving higher.

Over the last 60 days, I see a few increases.

The full fiscal year 2022 has moved from $2.49 to $4.57.

Next has nearly doubled from $1.50 to $2.98.

Positive movement in earnings estimates like that is why this stock is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Valuation

I see a great valuation for CCRN.  The forward PE is 3.4x and that is  very low considering the 139% topline growth the company posted in the most recent quarter.  The price to book of 1.7x is very low given the growth in earnings.  The price to sales comes in at 0.28x, which is super low and indicates that the market does not value each sales dollar all that highly.

Margins have increased in a big way over the last couple quarters, moving from 5.5% to 7.4%, and if they keep that up with solid revenue growth then earnings are going to be moving a lot higher.

Bear of the Day:

AnheuserBusch InBev is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) despite beating the number in the most recent earnings release.  If we are in fact headed into a recession, then people are likely to have .  Let's look at why this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) and in this Bear of the Day article.

Description

Anheuser-Busch InBev, alias AB InBev, is a global brewing company with more than 500 iconic brands. The company's leading position in the majority of its markets and a strong global footprint lends the advantage of economies of scale and growing its multi-country brands globally. Its strategy is based on efforts to develop a portfolio of brands that cater to extensive consumer needs within the market, in terms of price range, flavor profiles, and brand meaning.

Earnings History

When I look at a stock, the first thing I do is look to see if the company is beating the number.  This tells me right away where the market's expectations have been for the company and how management has communicated to the market.  A stock that consistently beats has management communicating expectations to Wall Street that can be achieved.  That is what you want to see.

In the case of BUD, I see two straight beats which preceded two straight misses of the  Zacks Consensus Estimate.   This alone does not make the stock a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and it doesn't make it a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) either.

The Zacks Rank does care about the earnings history, but it is much more heavily influenced by the movement of earnings estimates.

Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Rank tells us which stocks are seeing earnings estimates move higher or in this case lower.  For BUD I see annual estimates moving lower.

The Zacks Rank is more heavily influenced by the move in the annual numbers, and the movement is mixed for those numbers.

The current year 2022 consensus number has dropped from $3.16 to $3.07.

The next year has dropped from $3.66 to $3.41 over the last 60 days.

Negative movement in earnings estimates like that is why this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

It should be noted that a majority of stocks in the Zacks universe are seeing positive earnings estimate revisions.  That means that the stocks that are seeing small but negative earnings estimate revisions are falling to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

Additional content:

Markets Tepidly Mixed Ahead of Big-Box Retailer Earnings: WMT, M, HD

The blue-chip Dow 30 index rose for the second straight session this Monday, albeit by a very slim +0.08%. The other major market indexes were all down on the day, but only the tech-heavy Nasdaq sold off with any heft, -1.20% or -142 points. The S&P 500 and small-cap Russell 2000 dipped -0.39% and -0.52%, respectively.

Bitcoin suffered again, dropping another -3.8% on the day, although this was off the -5% lows we saw as of Monday's closing bell. Year to date, the leading cryptocurrency has fallen -37%, which is still better than the -39% drop we've seen in Ethereum since the start of the year.

Meanwhile, the spot price for gold is +11.7 on the day to 1823.90. It would appear the move to crypto as a safe-haven investment is not quite where many thought it was, and it certainly hasn't replaced investors' flight to safety into gold.

And mortgage prices are now averaging 5.5% on a 30-year fixed loan — the highest they've been in many years. We'll get new Housing Starts/Building Permits data as well as Existing Home Sales later this week; it may be a tad early to see the effects of higher mortgage rates on housing prices and availability, but it is a space we're interested in tracking regarding overall inflation metrics.

In the Ahead of Wall Street column from this morning, we discussed a bit about what to expect from Walmart's quarterly earnings report out early Tuesday. We also will hear from Macy's and Home Depot ahead of the opening bell, and here's what to look for in their respective Q1s:

Both Macy's and Home Depot have strung together an impressive past five years of earnings reports — each only having missed one quarter that whole time. From there, however, the fortunes are expected to diverge quite widely. While Home Depot's earnings and sales in the quarter are both expected to be down low-to-mid single digits year over year, Macy's is looking to make a big move beyond its year-ago Covid levels, with revenues expected +13.6% and earnings +110% from last year's Q1.

In fact, the trailing four-quarter average earnings beat for Macy's is a whopping +239%, while for Home Depot it's a still-respectable +11%. Both retailers are taking Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) ratings into their earnings releases.

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Macy's, Inc. (M) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Walmart Inc. (WMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
The Home Depot, Inc. (HD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
AnheuserBusch InBev SANV (BUD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. (CCRN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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