The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical, Waddell & Reed Financial, Buckle and China Petroleum & Chemical

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – Feb 27, 2018 – 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 Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co., Ltd. SHI, Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. WDR, The Buckle Inc. BKE and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. SNP.

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Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Buy 4 Top Stocks Yielding 4%-Plus to Beat Rising Rate Fears

Global investors are struck with increasing inflationary and rising rate fears to start 2018. The benchmark U.S. Treasury bond yield spurted to 2.88% on Feb 23, 2018 from 2.46% seen at the start of the year. It now seems to be a matter of a time when we’ll see a 3% plus 10-year U.S. treasury yield.

An analyst said on CNBC that "we didn't pierce 3 percent this time, but the next 10-Year auction in a couple of weeks is probably certain to do that." With benchmark bond yields hovering around a four-year high, the bond market is believed to be ruling the stock market’s future movements.

And further higher yield could lead stocks to come crashing down. Goldman Sachs already forecast that stocks may nosedive 25% if 10-year bond yields hit a high of 4.5% and sees a more than 95% probability of a Fed rate hike in March.

A senior portfolio manager at Sit predicts that the Fed will raise rates four times this year, one more than that have so far been penciled by the central bank. Fears of faster ceases in cheap money inflows will likely hurt stocks.

On the other hand, the U.S. government needs to borrow around $955 billion in 2018 and more than $1 trillion in the next two years. And this need for borrowing comes at a time when interest rates are on an uptrend. All these actions should result in pushing up yields even higher.

Against this scenario, edgy investors might be dumping almost all of their holdings, be it bonds and stocks. However, one thing that investors can do is search for dividend stocks that offer benchmark-beating yields.

After all, such stocks provide investors avenues to make up for capital losses, if that happens at all. Also, dividend investing calls for value investing. Since in its northbound journey, stock valuation got elevated, a value quotient will boost investors’ portfolio at the current level.

Stock Picks

In this vein, below we highlight four top-ranked stocks which have a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and a Value Score of A. Plus, these stocks offer a 4%-plus yield.

Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co., Ltd. – Yield 5.45%

This is China's largest petrochemical company. The stock is from a top-ranked Zacks Industry (top 44%). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. – Yield – 4.84%

This exclusive underwriter and distributor of mutual fund portfolios belongs to a top-ranked Zacks Industry (top 29%).

The Buckle Inc.– Yield – 4.55%

It is a retailer of medium to better-priced casual apparel, footwear, and accessories for fashion-conscious young men and women. It comes from a top-ranked Zacks Industry (top 28%).

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. – Yield 4.26%

This is a joint-stock company focusing on its core business of petroleum and petrochemicals with integrated upstream, mid-stream and downstream operations and a complete marketing network. The Zacks Industry Rank is in the top 7%.

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Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1 Stock 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.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year.See these high-potential stocks free >>.

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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 https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SNP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
SINOPEC Shangai Petrochemical Company, Ltd. (SHI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (WDR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Buckle, Inc. (The) (BKE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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