Ultra Clean, Rent-A-Center, Facebook, Qualcomm and Whole Foods Mhighlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 03, 2016 – Zacks Equity Research highlights Ultra Clean Holdings (NASDAQ:UCTT- Free Report) as the Bull of the Day and Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ:RCII-Free Report) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB-Free Report),Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM-Free Report) and Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM- Free Report).

Here is a synopsis of all the five stocks:

 

Bull of the Day :

Investors tend to be weary of companies that experience the combined impacts of an abrupt departure by a key member of the management team, and a shift in the company’s overall focus. But there are times when that is just what the company needed. This is the case of the Zacks Bull of the Day,Ultra Clean Holdings (NASDAQ:UCTT- Free Report) who in July saw their CFO leave the company during a time when management began to refocus on growing their market share and new semicap opportunities.

This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company is a developer and supplier of critical subsystems for the semiconductor capital equipment, flat panel, solar and medical device industries. Ultra Clean offers its customers an integrated outsourced solution for gas delivery systems and other subassemblies, improved design-to-delivery cycle times, component neutral design and manufacturing and component testing capabilities. Ultra Clean's customers are primarily original equipment manufacturers for the semiconductor capital equipment, flat panel, solar and medical device industries. Ultra Clean is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

Recent Earnings Data

Management announced Q3 earnings on October 26th where they easily beat both the Zacks consensus earnings and revenue estimates. Specifically, on a year over year basis, the company saw gains in Total revenues +19%, Semiconductor revenues +14.6%, Total revenues outside the U.S. +66.1%, Net income +52.9%, Gross margins +0.7%, and Net cash increased by $3.2 million.

Management’s Take

According to Jim Scholhamer, President and CEO, “Strong momentum led to record revenues and significant improvement on the bottom line this quarter. As a result of our strategic focus on the semiconductor capital equipment market, we are expanding our capabilities to cost-effectively meet customers' dynamic needs. As the market continues its upward trajectory, our solid customer relationships and growing market position are enabling us to outpace the broader industry.”

Bear of the Day:

 

In the modern world, having a system outage for a single day can wreak havoc on any company. But when you combine weeks of system issues with a double digit decline in same store sales, a company’s top and bottom line are bound to be negatively impacted. These are some of the issues facing our Zacks Bear of the Day, Rent-A-Center Inc. (NASDAQ:RCII- Free Report).

This Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) company operates company owned rent-to-own stores which offer high-quality, durable goods such as consumer electronics, appliances, furniture and accessories to consumers under flexible rental purchase arrangements that allow the customer to obtain ownership of the merchandise at the conclusion of an agreed-upon rental period.

Recent Earnings Report

On October 26, RCII posted Q3 earnings where they beat the Zacks consensus earnings estimate but came up short against the Zacks consensus revenue estimate. On a year over year basis the company saw declines in Diluted earnings per share -76.6%, Total revenues -12.3%, Core U.S. revenues -16.3%, Same store sales -12.0%, and EBITDA fell by 370 basis points.

Management’s Take

According to Robert D. Davis, CEO, “ As previously announced, our third quarter operating results were negatively impacted by unexpected capacity-related system outages following the full implementation of our new store information management system within our Core U.S. stores. Consequently, I am terribly disappointed in the results for the quarter, both top and bottom line. Toward the end of the third quarter we had seen significant improvement in system availability and a reduction in the frequency of system outages. However, over the past two weeks on a couple of instances we have experienced system slowness and outages similar to but less impactful than what we saw earlier in the third quarter. Despite these recent challenges, over the past 6 weeks, past due percentages have been lower than they were a year ago .”

Additional content:

Facebook, Qualcomm, Whole Foods Beat Earnings Estimates

Long-awaited results from Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB- Free Report) Q3 earnings report hit the tape after Wednesday’s close, beating analysts’ expectations on both revenues and profits. The social media giant brought in 88 cents per share (accounting for stock-based compensation expenses and other BNRI) on $7.01 billion in quarterly sales. These results topped the 76 cents per share and $6.92 billion in the Zacks consensus estimates.

All main metrics for Facebook were surpassed in the quarter, including mobile monthly active users (MMAU) hitting above 1 billion for the first time ever, at 1.09 billion. Daily active users (DAU) now amount to 1.18 billion worldwide. Somehow FB shares are trading down in the wake of this news; the stock is up more than 21% year to date. For more on FB’s earnings results, click here.

Chip-making major Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM- Free Report) blasted a big fiscal Q4 earnings beat after the bell, reaching $1.28 per share on $6.18 billion in quarterly revenues. These numbers far and away outperformed the 98 cents per share and $5.82 billion, respectively. The upper-end of revenue guidance for fiscal Q1 2017 at $6.5 billion is higher than the $6.3 billion in the Zacks consensus.

This marks the fifth straight quarter of earnings beats for Qualcomm, with chip shipments (MSM) of $211 million and licensing of $1.9 billion surpassing analyst estimates. Shares of QCOM are only up about 1% in late trading following the news, but the stock is up roughly 40% over the past 6 months. For more on QCOM’s earnings, click here.

Also, Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM- Free Report) brought forth its fiscal Q4 results, topping earnings estimates by 4 cents to 28 cents per share on revenues of $3.5 billion, slightly below the $3.51 billion expected. This marks the third positive earnings surprise in the last four quarters for the upscale supermarket chain. Notably, the company announced the return of founder John Mackey.

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About the Bull and Bear of the Day

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ULTRA CLEAN HLD (UCTT): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
RENT-A-CENTER (RCII): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
FACEBOOK INC-A (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
QUALCOMM INC (QCOM): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
WHOLE FOODS MKT (WFM): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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