Times Power Ratings: The Strong and the Weak
The Los Angeles Times Power Ratings rank stocks based on growth-oriented criteria: share price momentum, earnings forecasts and analysts’ recommendations. Using a formula designed by The Times, Zacks Investment Research screens its 6,600-stock universe for those with strength-or weakness-in three equally weighted categories: percentage change in share price over the last 12 weeks; percentage change, also over the last 12 weeks, in analysts’ consensus earnings-per-share estimate for the company’s current fiscal year; and analysts’ consensus rating (1.0 equals “strong buy” and 5.0 equals “strong sell”). Zacks ranks the stocks from 1 to 6,600 in each of the three categories, then averages those rankings to derive an overall power rating. The top 25 and bottom 10 stocks are listed. While no one should make decisions based solely on a stock screen-and The Times is not recommending buying or selling any of the companies listed-growth-oriented investors may be interested in seeing which companies have been showing strength or weakness in recent months. Along with the criteria used in the screen, the chart lists Friday’s closing price and the number of analysts covering each company.
The Top 25
*--*
% chg. % chg. in % chg. avg. ’99 in price, EPS* est., Ticker Friday last last analyst Rank Company symbol price 12 weeks 12 wks. rating 1 Millennium Pharm. MLNM $63.00 66.3% 850.0% 1.36 2 Harmonic HLIT 89.25 80.8 81.5 1.42 3 Idec Pharm. IDPH 126.00 149.8 55.6 1.50 4 RF Micro Devices RFMD 41.75 95.9 22.4 1.30 5 Zomax ZOMX 27.00 104.7 63.2 1.50 6 Periphonics PERI 23.69 120.4 40.9 1.50 7 US Lec CLEC 27.75 41.9 100.7 1.10 8 Conexant Systems CNXT 65.59 69.3 134.7 1.54 9 Helix Technology HELX 26.00 52.4 31.4 1.25 10 Tesoro Petroleum TSO 17.69 49.7 94.2 1.44 11 Factory 2-U FTUS 27.50 65.4 13.5 1.13 12 PMC-Sierra PMCS 91.44 88.3 15.5 1.37 13 Cymer CYMI 30.50 66.6 150.0 1.63 14 Lam Research LRCX 49.88 79.7 55.4 1.60 15 TranSwitch TXCC 50.50 63.8 21.0 1.43 16 Trimeris TRMS 19.63 45.4 26.3 1.25 17 Gilead Sciences GILD 81.63 87.1 28.5 1.63 18 Business Objects BOBJ 45.13 57.0 14.5 1.27 19 MTI Technology MTIC 19.88 120.8 22.3 1.63 20 St Mary Land & Expl MARY 28.06 40.3 90.9 1.44 21 Forest Oil FST 15.44 46.2 181.4 1.55 22 CTS CTS 46.75 65.9 6.7 1.00 23 Qualcomm QCOM 174.94 79.9 19.3 1.58 24 Zoran ZRAN 33.50 230.9 9.2 1.50 25 Western Wireless WWCA 40.00 63.3 22.0 1.56
No. of Rank analysts 1 7 2 6 3 12 4 10 5 4 6 4 7 5 8 12 9 4 10 8 11 4 12 15 13 8 14 20 15 7 16 4 17 12 18 11 19 4 20 8 21 11 22 3 23 18 24 4 25 17
*--*
The Bottom 10
*--*
% chg. % chg. in % chg. avg. ’99 in price, EPS* est., Ticker Friday last last analyst Rank Company symbol price 12 weeks 12 wks. rating 1 New Era of Networks NEON $15.06 -66.2% -158.6% 2.55 2 Oakwood Homes OH 6.06 -51.5 -41.1 2.86 3 Romac International ROMC 7.38 -48.7 -65.8 2.38 4 Ha-Lo Industries HMK 5.94 -50.8 -50.8 2.11 5 Global Crossing GBLX 30.13 -36.5 -475.0 1.63 6 Western Digital WDC 5.94 -25.8 -742.1 2.93 7 CKE Restaurants CKR 9.00 -51.0 -29.8 2.42 8 Waste Management WMI 23.38 -55.8 -24.7 2.34 9 Total Renal Care TRL 9.00 -41.5 -38.5 2.46 10 Fruit of the Loom FTL 6.94 -32.7 -93.4 2.50
No. of Rank analysts 1 10 2 7 3 8 4 9 5 4 6 15 7 12 8 16 9 13 10 8
*--*
* Earnings per share
Notes: Companies with share prices below $5 and those covered by fewer than three analysts are excluded.
Source: Richard Peal/Zacks Investment Research; for more information on Zacks Investment Research, visit https://www.zacks.com.
