Investors seek growth stocks to capitalize on above-average growth in financials that help these securities grab the market’s attention and produce exceptional returns. However, it isn’t easy to find a great growth stock.
In addition to volatility, these stocks carry above-average risk by their very nature. Also, one could end up losing from a stock whose growth story is actually over or nearing its end.
However, the Zacks Growth Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which looks beyond the traditional growth attributes to analyze a company’s real growth prospects, makes it pretty easy to find cutting-edge growth stocks.
ON Semiconductor Corp. (ON) is on the list of such stocks currently recommended by our proprietary system. In addition to a favorable Growth Score, it carries a top Zacks Rank.
Studies have shown that stocks with the best growth features consistently outperform the market. And for stocks that have a combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy), returns are even better.
Here are three of the most important factors that make the stock of this semiconductor components maker a great growth pick right now.
Earnings Growth
Arguably nothing is more important than earnings growth, as surging profit levels is what most investors are after. And for growth investors, double-digit earnings growth is definitely preferable, and often an indication of strong prospects (and stock price gains) for the company under consideration.
While the historical EPS growth rate for ON Semiconductor Corp. is 2.7%, investors should actually focus on the projected growth. The company’s EPS is expected to grow 192.4% this year, crushing the industry average, which calls for EPS growth of 35.8%.
Impressive Asset Utilization Ratio
Growth investors often overlook asset utilization ratio, also known as sales-to-total-assets (S/TA) ratio, but it is an important feature of a real growth stock. This metric shows how efficiently a firm is utilizing its assets to generate sales.
Right now, ON Semiconductor Corp. has an S/TA ratio of 0.67, which means that the company gets $0.67 in sales for each dollar in assets. Comparing this to the industry average of 0.58, it can be said that the company is more efficient.
In addition to efficiency in generating sales, sales growth plays an important role. And ON Semiconductor Corp. looks attractive from a sales growth perspective as well. The company’s sales are expected to grow 25.1% this year versus the industry average of 24.4%.
Promising Earnings Estimate Revisions
Superiority of a stock in terms of the metrics outlined above can be further validated by looking at the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is of course favorable here. Empirical research shows that there is a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
The current-year earnings estimates for ON Semiconductor Corp. have been revising upward. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has surged 0.1% over the past month.
Bottom Line
ON Semiconductor Corp. has not only earned a Growth Score of A based on a number of factors, including the ones discussed above, but it also carries a Zacks Rank #2 because of the positive earnings estimate revisions.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
This combination indicates that ON Semiconductor Corp. is a potential outperformer and a solid choice for growth investors.
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