Zacks Sell List Highlights: Nicor, Strategic Hotels & Resorts, West Pharmaceutical Services and Patterson Companies

CHICAGO, April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com releases details on a group of stocks that are currently members of the exclusive Zacks #5 Rank List – Stocks to Sell Now. These stocks are currently rated as a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell): Nicor Inc. (NYSE: GAS) and Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE: BEE). Further, Zacks announced #4 Rankings (Sell) on two other widely held stocks: West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. (NYSE: WST) and Patterson Companies, Inc. (Nasdaq: PDCO). See the full Zacks #5 Rank List - Stocks to Sell Now visit

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Since inception in 1988, the S&P 500 has outperformed the Zacks #5 Rank List of Stocks to Sell Now by 80% annually (+2% vs. +10%). While the rest of Wall Street continued to tout stocks during the market declines of the last few years, Zacks told investors which stocks to sell or avoid.    

Here is a synopsis of why GAS and BEE have a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) and should most likely be sold or avoided for the next one to three months. Note that a #5 Strong Sell rating is applied to 5% of all the stocks in the Zacks Rank universe:

Nicor Inc. (NYSE: GAS) reported fourth-quarter earnings of 87 cents per share on Feb 23, which came in 6% short of analysts' expectations. This came in 34 cents below the fourth quarter earnings on a year-over-year basis. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2011 fell 12 cents to $2.62 per share over the past month. Next year's forecast also dipped 12 cents to $2.77 per share in the last 60 days.

Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc.'s (NYSE: BEE) fourth-quarter loss per share of a penny, announced on Feb 23, lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4 cents. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year dropped a penny to 5 cents per share in the last month. Estimate for the following year also slid a penny to 34 cents per share during the same time span.

Here is a synopsis of why WST and PDCO have a Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) and should also most likely be sold or avoided for the next one to three months. Note that a #4 Sell rating is applied to 15% of all the stocks ranked by Zacks;

West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. (NYSE: WST) posted a fourth-quarter earnings of 42 cents per share on Feb 17, which was far behind last year's earnings of 58 cents. The full-year average forecast fell by a penny per share $2.36 over the past week. Estimates for 2012 also fell by a penny in the same time span.

Patterson Companies, Inc. (Nasdaq: PDCO) announced third-quarter earnings of 47 cents per share last month, which missed analysts' projections by 2%.  The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2011 moved down to $1.88 per share in the last 30 days as the covering analysts pulled back on expectations. Next year's forecast declined 5 cents to $2.08 per share in a span of 60 days.

Truly taking advantage of the Zacks Rank requires the understanding of how it works.  The free special report; "Zacks Rank Guide: Harnessing the Power of Earnings Estimate Revisions" is available to provide this insightful background. Download a free copy now to prosper in the years to come.

About the Zacks Rank

Since 1988, the Zacks Rank has proven that "Earnings estimate revisions are the most powerful force impacting stock prices." Since inception in 1988, #1 Rank Stocks have generated an average annual return of +27%. During the 2000-2002 bear market, Zacks #1 Rank stocks gained +43.8%, while the S&P 500 tumbled -37.6%. Also note that the Zacks Rank system has just as many Strong Sell recommendations (Rank #5) as Strong Buy recommendations (Rank #1). Since 1988, Zacks Rank #5 stocks have significantly underperformed the S&P 500 (-0.9% versus +9%). Thus, the Zacks Rank system allows investors to truly manage portfolio trading effectively.

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

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