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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Wayfair, Regions Financial, M/I Homes, PlayAGS and Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – April 30, 2020 – 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: Wayfair Inc. (W - Free Report) , Regions Financial Corp. (RF - Free Report) , M/I Homes Inc. (MHO - Free Report) , PlayAGS, Inc. (AGS - Free Report) and Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust .

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

Will Laggards Be Leaders in Wall Street Recovery?

U.S. stocks have been steady of late with investors shifting focus to the reopening of economy and an improvement in virus cases. Recent data points showed that the outbreak is gradually coming under control, even in the hardest-hit states. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin indicated that we may see “the economy really bounce back in July, August and September” after reopening in May and June.

We all know, there is a mammoth Fed and government stimulus to aid market recovery. The Fed has cut rates to zero and launched unlimited QE. It also agreed to buy highly-rated corporate bonds and intervened in the municipal bond market. Moreover, the Fed announced an investment of up to $2.3 trillion in loans to aid small and mid-sized businesses, and state and local governments, as well as to fund the purchases of some types of high-yield bonds, collateralized loan obligations and commercial mortgage-backed securities.

Plus, there is the government’s $2-trillion package in place. The latest extension of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which is called Phase 3.5, acted as a big tailwind for small-cap stocks. The program increases the PPP by an additional $321 billion. Plus, it has extra funding for disaster relief, hospitals and testing.

All these have benefited the S&P 500, the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones by 10.8%, 11.8% and 9.9%, respectively, in the past month (as of Apr 28, 2020). In the past five days, the three indexes gained 4.6%, 4.2% and 4.7%, respectively.

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few sectors that are on fire right now. These sectors were badly beaten down in the coronavirus selloff and are looking well poised to rally faster than the broader market.

Retail

Retail — predominantly dependent on consumer discretionary activity — had a painful stretch in the peak of the pandemic due to store closures. Gradual reopening of businesses and job creations should favor this hard-hit sector. Cheap oil price is another positive for the sector. However, the recovery may be rough with consumers being cash-strapped.

One retail winner of past week is online home furnishing company Wayfair Inc.  (up 27.6%).

Banks

Talks of reopening and government protection for small-caps reduced delinquency risks for pint-sized stocks, which in turn favored banking stocks as this enhances banks’ credit quality. Moreover, the 10-year Treasury yield marked the biggest single-day jump in three weeks on Apr 27.  If markets remain steady ahead, bank stocks may stage a rebound on higher yields.

Regions Financial Corp. (up 11.5%) is among the many winners of past week.

Homebuilding

Lower-than-expected decline in mortgage rates, labor shortage and a reduced wealth effect wreaked havoc on the sector in the past. However, a stock market bounce and the resultant wealth effect, economic normalization, and Fed and government stimulus should act in favor of housing stocks, especially giventhe rock-bottom rates prevailing in the economy.

Inventory levels should improve at the current level as builders have continued operations despite the shutdown and demand has slackened. Rising home pricesshould see some moderation too, adding to affordability.

M/I Homes Inc. (up 22.5%) is a prominent winner in the past week.

Casino

Casino stocks, another laggard amid coronavirus selloffs, are also looking forward to reopening. Las Vegas Sands’ expectations of a quick recovery in Asia are boding well for the space. The company is looking to deploy capital toward M&A. Las Vegas Sands is confident that it will be in a better position this summer and improve further in the fall. The upbeat mood has spread through the entire sector.

PlayAGS, Inc. (AGS - Free Report)  (up 22.1%) is a notable winner in the casino gaming space.

Real Estate

Re-openings mean more job creation and regularization in rent payments. This is especially true given the Federal Reserve and government injected billions of dollar into the economy to help corporations and households meet their essential financial obligations. This should benefit the real estate sector in the near term. Prevailing low rates is another positive for this high-yielding sector.

Retail REIT Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (up 15.2%) were two winners of past week.

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

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