CHICAGO, Oct. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN-Free Report) as the Bull of the Day and Cheesecake Factory (Nasdaq:CAKE-Free Report) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis onTwitter (NYSE:TWTR-Free Report), Facebook (Nasdaq:FB-Free Report) and LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD-Free Report).
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
With the world population growing by 75 million each year, the United Nations projects the world population will reach 9 billion by 2050. As a result, it's estimated that in 40 years the world will need double the food production of today with global protein consumption projected to grow more than 500% from 1960 to 2022. As people enter the middle class globally, they add protein to their diets. To feed the global demand, the US is exporting more of its domestic protein production.
Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN-Free Report) is one of the largest meat protein companies in the US and is the world's largest fully-integrated producer, processor and marketer of chicken and poultry-based food products. Tyson is a comprehensive supplier of value-added chicken products through food service, retail grocery stores, club stores and international distribution channels. Although its core business is chicken, in the US Tyson is also the second largest maker of corn and flour tortillas under the Mexican Original brand and through its subsidiary Cobb Vantress, the top chicken breeding stock supplier. The company produces nearly 1 in every 5 pounds of chicken, beef and pork in the US. They have a strong, diversified portfolio of iconic retail foods brands including Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean, Sara Lee and Ball Park.
It seems like analysts have taken note of the explosive growth in the meat producer segment as well. The industry ranks number 2 out of the 265 industries in our Zacks Industry Rank. Earnings estimates have shown a bullish trend not just for Tyson but for every company in this competitive space. Two analysts have revised their estimates for Tyson's earnings next year over the last 30 days. This has pushed consensus up from $3.27 all the way to $3.38 for the company. These recent revisions are a big reason why Tyson comes in at a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Few things in life are more fickle than consumer tastes. One day you're the hottest thing on the block and the next day you're in the bargain bin. The same goes for restaurants. Case in point, I remember going to eat the buffet at Sizzler's. What ever happened to that place? If restaurants don't adapt to the changing tastes and preferences of their patrons they can find themselves boarded up and out of business.
When I make a list of restaurants I haven't been to in forever, today's Bear of the Day is on that list. The Cheesecake Factory (Nasdaq:CAKE-Free Report) is now scraping the plate as a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Which honestly is a little bit troubling because I have had my fair share of cheesecake in my day. Regardless the story here is less about the quality of the food or how great it tastes and it's more about the numbers.
Over the last week alone, fourteen analysts have revised their earnings estimates for the current year and next year to the downside. The magnitude of the revisions has been very significant as well. The revisions have dropped current year consensus down from $2.21 to $2.11 and next year's numbers down from $2.58 all the way to $2.41.
The revisions follow an alarming trend for the Cheesecake Factory. Revisions have steadily decreased consensus since March 2013.
Additional content:
Twitter Meets, Stock Tanks on Low Guidance
Social network firm Twitter (NYSE:TWTR-Free Report) announced its Q3 earnings after the bell on Monday. Revenues in the quarter of $361 million beat the Zacks consensus estimate of $358 million, though earnings of -27 cents per share (GAAP, adjusted for stock-based compensation) met the -27 cents we had expected. But growth trajectories remain fairly robust overall, and notwithstanding its disappointing forecast for Q4 revenues, that's the main story for Twitter these days.
Monthly Active Users (MAU) were up 4.8% sequentially and 23% year over year in the quarter to 284 million. Timeline views reached 181 billion, which is up 14% from the year-ago quarter. And Twitter's Advertising Revenue Per 1000 Timeline Views hit $1.77 in the September quarter, up 83% year over year.
Guidance, as I mentioned, for the December quarter was much lower than expected: a range of $440-450 million in the December quarter is beneath the Zacks consensus estimate of $469 million. Also, though growth trajectories still appear formidable, they do appear to be losing a bit of steam compared to previous quarters, especially its Q2 2014 -- though that quarter was helped tremendously by FIFA World Cup soccer over the summer, during which Twitter enjoyed a big boost is users and activity.
The reason for Twitter's big sell-off in the after-market, even though quarterly numbers were pretty much along the lines of what was expected, may have something to do with the fact that Twitter has yet to tie its various acquisitions together into what can be viewed as a viable platform system that may be able to take market share from companies like Facebook (Nasdaq:FB-Free Report) and LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD-Free Report). Smaller companies acquired by Twitter include Cover, Gnip, TapCommerce and others, but just how these various systems will eventually intertwine to enhance the Twitter experience isn't very clear at this time.
Thus far in late trading, TWTR shares are down 9%. As of the closing bell, Twitter was down roughly 24% year-to-date, including the big positive surprise in Q2.
Perhaps this sell-off is mostly just a rather aggressive strain of profit-taking now that the company's 60% run up since its 52-week lows this past spring has passed.
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