Centene,Abercrombie & Fitch,DISH Network, CBSand Time Warner highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day

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Dec 08, 2014, 09:30 ET

CHICAGO, Dec. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks Equity Research highlights Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC-Free Report) as the Bull of the Day and Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF-Free Report) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis onDISH Network Corp. (Nasdaq:DISH-Free Report), CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS-Free Report) and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX-Free Report).

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC-Free Report) is officially on the $100 roll. Never heard of such a thing? Well until recently, I hadn't either but social media users have noted that stocks that are just short of $100 per share, tend to roll up over the psychological level and then add on a few more percent. CNC is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) but not because of the $100 roll, so let's see why as the stock is the Bull of the Day today.

Is this really a thing? The $100 roll might have been something that stocks have witnessed in the recent past, but CNC doesn't really hit into the mold of a stock that is about to test that level and then run straight through it. Instead, CNC first reached $100 on November 18, but the stock failed to hold that level and closed in the $98 range. On November 26, the stock again touched this mythical level, but again slipped more than $1 from that intraday high.

The last couple of sessions have been a different story. The stock reached a new 52 week high of $101.83 on December 3 and the stock closed only a few pennies below that level. The next day, the stock stayed in triple digit territory. Whether or not the stock "rolls up" to $102, $103 or even $104 is probably better left to the social media pundits who invented the phrase.

Centene Corporation provides multi-line healthcare programs and services via its two segments, Managed Care and Specialty Services. The Managed Care segment offers Medicaid and Medicaid-related health plan coverage to individuals through government subsidized programs, including Medicaid. The Specialty Services segment provides behavioral healthcare programs, healthcare services to individuals, in-home health services for high acuity populations and health insurance to individual customers and their families. Centene Corporation was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Amidst the recent turmoil in Ferguson MO, CNC announced that they would open a new call center the town that was the center of social unrest. CNC calls St. Louis home, so this move should increase loyalty in Missouri, but for those of us that follow the stock, it was a signal that management is just as in touch with the community as they are with Wall Street.

Bear of the Day:

Serving the ever changing demands of the teen market is a tough thing. To say that they are fickle would be an understatement, so woo are they who try to sell to that market. Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF-Free Report) is one such company, and although they recently beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate, they guided below Wall Street expectations. When earnings estimates move lower, the Zacks Rank tends to follow. Today, ANF is the bear of the day.

The company reported earnings on December 3, and was able to beat the Zacks Consensus of $0.41 by a penny. Revenues of $911M were just below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $917M and were down from $1.03B in the same period a year ago. The beat is good to see, but the company also guided below expectations for next year. The company now expects 2015 EPS of between $1.50-$1.65 and that is below the Wall Street estimate of $1.79 and well below the previous guidance of $2.15-$2.35.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co., is a specialty retailer of casual apparel for men, women, and kids. The company was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in New Albany, Ohio.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2015 has been within two cents of $2.35 (both above and below) prior to the most recent earnings report. The poor guidance pushed the Zacks Consensus Estimate down to $1.61. The fiscal 2016 number also took a big spill. The Zacks Consensus Estimate went from $2.85 from to $2.34.

Additional content:

DISH Network Buys Time with CBS

DISH Network Corp.'s (Nasdaq:DISH-Free Report) 14 million satellite-TV customers will now continue to enjoy CBS Corporation's (NYSE:CBS-Free Report) TV channel. Negotiations between both the companies are on owing to a fresh carriage contract. Shares of Dish declined 2% yesterday reflecting investors' fears that it might end up losing a substantial number of customers if both the companies fail to reach an agreement.

CBS, one of the most viewed channels in the country, had earlier threatened to withdraw its channel from DISH's network if both parties do not reach an amicable solution latest by 4 p.m. on Dec 4. DISH has been persistently losing pay-TV customers. A failure to come to terms with CBS might result in further customer churn and falling average revenue per user in the coming quarter.

Last quarter, the company lost 12,000 pay-TV subscribers. Average monthly pay-TV subscriber churn rate in the third quarter stood at 1.67% compared with 1.66% in the prior-year quarter.

In the recent past, other pay-TV providers have also faced a spat with channels. In Aug 2013, Time Warner Cable faced a month-long blackout of CBS' network over programming contract renewal disputes with the latter. Consequently, the company lost a whopping 306,000 residential pay-TV subscribers.

In the same vein, DISH Network had a contract dispute with Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX-Free Report), which resulted in the former dropping many Turner broadcasting channels including CNN and Cartoon Network. However, last month, both the companies decided to restore CNN and other channels to DISH's customers.

DISH currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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