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Here's Why Investors Should Buy Manhattan Associates (MANH)

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Manhattan Associates (MANH - Free Report) appears to be a promising stock to add to your portfolio to tackle the current macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties and benefit from its healthy fundamentals and growth prospects.

Let’s look at the factors that make the stock an attractive pick:

Shares Outperformed: Wall Street is facing extreme volatility due to macroeconomic factors, such as rising inflation and interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, increased crude oil prices and lingering supply-chain woes.

The above-mentioned factors are taking a toll on major U.S. indices. In the past year, the S&P 500 has fallen 12.5%.

The stock is down 9.5% from its 52-week high level of $158.6 on Feb 3, 2023, making it relatively affordable for investors. MANH’s shares have increased 2.1% in the past year against an 8.1% decline in the Zacks sub-industry.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Solid Rank: MANH has the favorable combination of a Growth Score of A and currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Per Zacks’ proprietary methodology, stocks with a combination of a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 (Buy) and a Growth Score of A or B offer solid investment opportunities.

Positive Earnings Surprise History: MANH has an impressive surprise record. Earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, the average being 36.2%.

The company reported fourth-quarter 2022 non-GAAP earnings of 81 cents per share, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 49 cents. The company reported non-GAAP earnings of 48 cents per share in the prior-year quarter.

Total revenues increased 15.5% year over year to $198.1 million, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $182.6 million.

Factors That Augurs Well

Manhattan Associates is a software company that provides supply chain management solutions to businesses of various sizes and industries. Their software suite includes warehouse management systems, transportation management systems, order management systems and other related applications.

Per a report from Grand View Research, the global supply chain management market size was valued at $21,129.2 million in 2022 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 11.1% from 2023 to 2030.

The company’s cloud subscription business unit continues to benefit from new customer deals from automotive companies, grocery retailers etc. In the fourth quarter, the segment’s revenues increased 48.6% to $51.7 million.

The company’s addition of Radio-Frequency Identification to its Manhattan Active store solution has helped the company to increase conversion rates and maximize inventory exposure for selling. Also, the company’s Manhattan Active Warehouse Management continue to witness healthy adoption.

Going ahead, the company is likely to benefit from the acquisition of new customers, conversion of on-premise customers to the cloud and cross-selling the company’s unified product portfolio to its customer base.

The company also has a solid repurchase program. For 2023, the company’s board of directors has increased the existing repurchase program by $75 million.

A Few Headwinds

Apart from its solid fundamentals, the company is prone to several risks. The company operates in a highly competitive supply chain market. This is likely to negatively impact the company’s performance.

Also, the volatile macroeconomic environment and unfavorable foreign currency movement are major concerns.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader technology space are Arista Networks (ANET - Free Report) , Perion Network (PERI - Free Report) and Pegasystems (PEGA - Free Report) , each presently sporting a Zacks Rank #1.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Arista Networks 2023 earnings is pegged at $5.79 per share, rising 11.5% in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is anticipated to be 14.2%.

Arista Networks’ earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, the average being 14.2%. Shares of ANET have increased 23.3% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Perion’s 2023 earnings is pegged at $2.69 per share, rising 16% in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is anticipated to be 25%.

Perion’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the last four quarters, the average being 31.7%. Shares of PERI have increased 64.9% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Pegasystems 2023 earnings is pegged at $1.35 per share, rising 101.5% in the past 60 days.

Pegasystems earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 11.2%. Shares of the company have declined 39.4% in the past year.


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