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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights PC Connection, JD.com, Burlington Stores and Abercrombie & Fitch

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 27, 2024 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: PC Connection, Inc. (CNXN - Free Report) , JD.com, Inc. (JD - Free Report) , Burlington Stores, Inc. (BURL - Free Report) and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

E-commerce to Boost Holiday Retail Sales: 4 Stocks with Room to Grow

The retail sector is making a steady rebound after sales slowed last year owing to inflationary pressure and higher borrowing costs. However, inflation has cooled sharply over the past few months, allowing consumers to continue spending.

E-commerce, which has largely been driving overall retail sales over the past few years, has been steadily rising lately, indicating that the economy is still on solid ground. The Federal Reserve recently announced its first rate cut in over four years. The rate cut ahead of the holiday season bodes well for the retail sector.

Given the positive outlook, investing in retail stocks with a strong online presence would be a prudent choice. Four such stocks are PC Connection, Inc., JD.com, Inc., Burlington Stores, Inc. and Abercrombie & Fitch. These stocks have seen positive earnings estimate revisions in the past 60 days. Each of the stocks has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Holiday Online Sales Projected to Grow

Online retail sales during the holiday season will grow at a faster pace in 2024 than they did last year, according to a new forecast from Adobe Analytics. Online sales are projected to jump 8.4% year over year, hitting $240.8 billion this holiday season, which typically falls between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31.

Online holiday sales totaled $221.8 billion in 2023, increasing 4.9% year over year. Shopping on mobile devices is projected to hit a new record high of $128.1 billion, increasing 12.8% year over year.

Online sales during Cyber Week, which is the five-day shopping period, including Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, are projected to hit $40.6 billion, jumping 7% from the year-ago level and accounting for 16.9% of the overall holiday season sales.

According to Adobe, Cyber Monday is expected to remain the year's biggest shopping day, driving a record $13.2 billion in sales, increasing 6.1% from year-ago levels.

Rate Cut to Boost Retail Stocks

The retail sector has shown solid resilience over the past few months amid price pressure. Retail sales grew 0.1% in August after rising the most in 18 months in July. Retail sales in July jumped a solid 1.1%.

Year over year, retail sales grew 2.1% in August, with online sales increasing 1.4% after declining 0.4% in the previous month. This came as the Federal Reserve announced its much-awaited rate cut last week.

The Federal Reserve announced a 50-basis point rate cut, the first since March 2020 and the biggest since 2008. A half percentage point rate cut is being seen as the Federal Reserve's aggressive stance to help the economy make a soft landing.

The Fed's announcement was cheered by investors. Market participants are hopeful about another 50-basis point rate cut by the end of this year. Lower borrowing rates bode well for the retail sector ahead of the holiday season as it will allow shoppers to spend freely and drive overall retail sales.

Retail Stocks to Benefit From the Holiday Season

PC Connection

PC Connection is a direct marketer of brand-name personal computers and related peripherals, software, and networking products to business, education, government, and consumer end users located primarily in the United States.

PC Connection has an expected earnings growth rate of 9.9% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 6% over the past 60 days. CNXN currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

JD.com

JD.com, Inc. operates as an online direct sales company in China. JD, through its website www.jd.com and mobile applications, offers a selection of authentic products.

JD.com's expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 27.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 16.8% over the past 60 days. JD currently has a Zacks Rank #1.

Burlington Stores

Burlington Stores functions as a retailer of branded apparel products and is a Fortune 500 company. BURL operates in the United States and Puerto Rico. Burlington Stores offers products such as ladies sportswear, menswear, youth apparel, baby furniture, accessories, home décor and gifts, and coats.

Burlington Stores' expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 30.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 3.3% over the past 60 days. BURL presently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch operates as a specialty retailer of premium, high-quality casual apparel for men, women, and kids through a network of approximately 850 stores across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. ANF's product portfolio includes knit and woven shirts, graphic T-shirts, fleece, jeans and woven pants, shorts, sweaters, outerwear, personal care products and accessories for men, women and kids, under the Abercrombie & Fitch, Abercrombie kids and Hollister brands.

Abercrombie & Fitch's expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 63.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 9.7% over the past 60 days. ANF currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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