Ralph Lauren Corporation (RL Quick QuoteRL ) appears solid on the back of its business strategies including the Next Great Chapter plan. On the digital front, the company is making significant progress in expanding its omni-channel capabilities through investments in mobile, omni-channel and fulfillment. It is progressing well on the Next Great Chapter plan, which focuses on creating a simplified global organizational structure to deliver sustainable growth.
These tailwinds aided the presently Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock to surge 41% in a year compared with the industry’s 36.3% rally. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Delving Deep
Ralph Lauren’s digital investments focus on creating content for all platforms, enhancing digital capabilities to improve the user experience and leveraging AI and data to serve consumers more efficiently. The company is consistently witnessing momentum across all regions and in both owned and wholesale digital channels, globally.
In first-quarter fiscal 2022, digital business was a key driver with accelerated digital sales across all regions. The global digital ecosystem sales increased more than 80% while owned digital e-commerce rose more than 45% year over year. North America drove the biggest improvement the fiscal first quarter with strength across both the owned and wholesale digital channels. Regionwise, digital sales surged 51% in North America, 23% in Europe and 42% in Asia. Operating margin at its owned digital business expanded 70 basis points (bps) year over year and more than 1,400 bps from the first-quarter fiscal 2020 level.
Top Growth Stocks To Own For 2023: Equus Total Return, Inc.(EQS)
Equus Total Return, Inc. (the Fund), incorporated on August 16, 1991, is a closed-end management investment company. The Fund’s investment objective is to maximize the total return to the Company’s stockholders in the form of current investment income and long-term capital gains by investing in the debt and equity securities of small and middle market capitalization companies that are generally not publicly traded at the time of its investment. The Company seeks to invest primarily in companies pursuing growth either through acquisition or organically, leveraged buyouts, management buyouts and recapitalizations of existing businesses or special situations. The Company’s income-producing investments consist principally of debt securities including subordinate debt, debt convertible into common or preferred stock, or debt combined with warrants and common and preferred stock.
The investment operations of the Fund consist principally of the basic activities, which include investment selection, due diligence, structuring investments, and providing management assistance and monitoring of investments. The Fund’s investment opportunities come from management, members of the Board, other private equity investors, direct approaches from prospective portfolio companies and referrals from investment banks, business brokers, commercial, regional and local banks, attorneys, accountants and other members of the financial community. Once a potential investment is identified, the Company undertakes a due diligence review using information provided by the prospective portfolio companies and publicly available information. The Company negotiates investments in private transactions directly with the owner or issuer of the securities acquired. The Fund seeks to provide guidance and management assistance with respect to such matters as capital structure, acquisitions, budgets, profit goals, corporate strategy, portfolio management and potential sale of the Company or other exit strategies.
The Fund makes follow-on investments in portfolio companies from cash on hand or borrows all or a portion of the funds required. If it is unable to make follow-on investments due to lack of available capital, the portfolio company in need of the investment may be negatively impacted and its equity interest in the portfolio company may be diluted if outside equity capital is required.
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Joseph Griffin]
Media coverage about Equus Total Return (NYSE:EQS) has trended positive this week, according to Accern Sentiment. Accern identifies positive and negative news coverage by monitoring more than 20 million blog and news sources. Accern ranks coverage of public companies on a scale of -1 to 1, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Equus Total Return earned a coverage optimism score of 0.39 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned media headlines about the investment management company an impact score of 51.7885599154335 out of 100, indicating that recent news coverage is somewhat likely to have an effect on the company’s share price in the near future.
- [By Anders Melin]
Taking that a step further, you can run searches on the Equity Screening (EQS) function using the new pay metrics or data on say-on-pay, which refers to shareholders’ right to vote on management remuneration. To see Russell 1000 companies with the lowest support on pay, for example, go to {EQS <GO>}. In the Add Criteria field, enter RIY and click on the Russell 1000 Index match. Next, enter Say on Pay, click on the Say on Pay Support Level item, and press <GO>. Click on the See Results | WATC button for a list of companies in the benchmark that you can sort by the percentage of shareholders supporting management on pay.
Top Growth Stocks To Own For 2023: VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT(VEOEY)
Veolia Environnement S.A. designs and provides water, waste, and energy management solutions worldwide. The company is involved in the resource management, production, and delivery of drinking water and industrial process water; collection, treatment, and recycling of wastewater; and design and construction of treatment and network infrastructure. It also provides waste collection, waste material recovery, waste-to-energy, organic waste material recovery, hazardous waste treatment, dismantling and remediation, urban cleaning, and industrial maintenance and cleaning services. In addition, the company engages in the operation and maintenance of heating and cooling networks; development of energy services to reduce the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of buildings; optimization of industrial utilities; and energy use related to processes and industrial buildings, as well as produces electricity from biomass. It offers drinking water to 100 million people; wastewater services to 61.3 million people; waste collection services to 39.6 million people; and heating and cooling services to 8.1 million people. The company was formerly known as Vivendi Environnement and changed its name to Veolia Environnement S.A. in 2003. Veolia Environnement S.A. was founded in 1853 and is based in Aubervilliers, France.
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By ]
The fund has almost a 50/50 split between U.S. and non-U.S. companies, with the bulk of the non-U.S. holdings coming from Europe. Top holdings from across the pond include French resource-management specialist Veolia (VEOEY), Swiss bathroom-fixture firm Geberit (GBERY) and British life-saving-technology provider Halma (HLMAF).
- [By Joseph Griffin]
Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Veolia Environnement (VEOEY)
For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com
Top Growth Stocks To Own For 2023: Compania Cervecerias Unidas, S.A.(CCU)
Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. operates as a beverage company principally in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The company operates through Chile, International Business, and Wine segments. It produces and sells alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer under 10 proprietary brands and 5 licensed brands; cider and spirits; and wines. The company also produces and sells non-alcoholic beverages, including carbonated soft drinks, nectars and juices, sports and energy drinks, and ice tea, as well as mineral and purified bottled water. In addition, it manufactures and sells pre-forms, returnable and non-returnable bottles, and caps. Further, the company is involved in the sale and distribution of beer, soft drinks, mineral water, purified water, functional beverages, nectars, wine, pisco, rum, whiskey, vodka, and sweet snacks products. The company serves small and medium sized retail outlets; retail establishments, such as restaurants, hotels, and bars; wholesalers; and supermarket chains. Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. also exports its products to Europe, Latin America, the United States, Canada, Asia, Oceania, and internationally. The company was founded in 1850 and is based in Santiago, Chile. Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. is a subsidiary of Inversiones y Rentas S.A.
