For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 08, 2016 – 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 Francesca's Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:FRAN –Free Report),Monarch Casino & Resort Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI –Free Report),ManpowerGroup Inc. (NYSE:MAN –Free Report) and Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCRN – Free Report).

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

4 Stocks to Buy on Strongest Wage Growth Since Recession

Despite a decline in non-farm payrolls, solid growth in wages last month indicated that the U.S. labor market is on a strong footing. Moreover, upward revisions in jobs additions number for the previous two months and a decline in unemployment rate once again confirmed that the economy is improving. This again increases the chances of a December rate hike. Thus selecting stocks from sectors that are poised to gain the most from this encouraging scenario may be a good choice for investors.

7-Year High Wage Growth Pace

According to the recently released jobs data by the U.S Department of Labor, average hourly earnings increased 10 cents or 0.4% to $25.92 last month, which was preceded by an increase of 8 cents witnessed in September. The rate of growth also came higher than the consensus estimate of 0.3% increase. Also, it surged 2.8% year on year, which was the biggest rate of increase since Jul 2009.

Moreover, average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees rose 4 cents to $21.72 in October. Among the broader industries, information (5.2%), leisure & hospitality (4.6%), utilities (4.2%) and nondurable goods (4.1%) emerged as the best performers in terms of year-on-year wage growth. Strong rise in wage growth also signaled that the labor market conditions are tightening.

Upward Revisions in Jobs Number, Unemployment Rate Declines

Apart from this impressive wage growth rate, jobs additions for August and September were also revised significantly upward. The labor department increased the numbers by 9,000 and 35,000 for August and September to 176,000 and 191,000, respectively. However the report showed that the economy generated 161,000 jobs last month, lower than the consensus estimate of 173,000 and September reading. The average jobs addition over the past three months came in at 176,000 despite October’s decline.

Meanwhile, unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage point last month to 4.9% on the back of a slight decrease in labor participation rate to 62.8%. Also, the total number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs dropped 218,000 to 3.7 million in October. Professional and business services, health care and financial activities emerged as the major segments to add larger proportions of jobs last month. These sectors generated 43,000, 31,000 and 14,000 jobs in October, respectively.

Sectors to Gain

Among all other sectors, consumer discretionary is poised to be the foremost gainer of the solid wage growth as consumers are expected to spend around one-third of their total expenditures on purchasing goods related to this sector. Moreover, the upcoming holiday season along with the strong growth in average hourly earnings is expected to boost the sector further.

Another industry that is also well positioned to benefit from the improving labor market scenario is staffing. Staffing is a sub-segment of the business services sector, which has been one of the leading contributors to jobs over a significant time frame. Companies from this space play an important role in providing employment services across a wide range of industries. It is speculated that continuing rise in wages will encourage more people to participate in jobs search, which in turn might boost companies from the staffing domain in the days ahead.

4 Stocks to Buy

Given this encouraging backdrop, potential stocks form the above mentioned sectors may prove to be profitable additions to one’s portfolio. However, picking winning stocks may prove to be difficult.

This is where our VGM score comes in. Here V stands for Value, G for Growth and M for Momentum and the score is a weighted combination of these three scores. Such a score allows you to eliminate the negative aspects of stocks and select winners. However, it is important to keep in mind that each Style Score will carry a different weight while arriving at a VGM score.

Hence we have highlighted four stocks from the above mentioned sectors that have a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) with VGM Score of ‘B’ or better. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Francesca's Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:FRAN – Free Report) is a specialty retailer of women's apparel products. The company has a VGM Score of A. Francesca's Holdings has an expected earnings growth rate of 8.9% for the current year compared with the industry average of 7.7%. The forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio for the current financial year (F1) is 15.52, lower than the industry average of 15.94.

Monarch Casino & Resort Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRI – Free Report) owns and operates the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, a hotel/casino facility in Reno, NV; and the Monarch Casino Black Hawk in Black Hawk, CO. The company has a VGM Score of B. Monarch Casino & Resort has an expected earnings growth rate of 14.3% for the current year compared with the industry average of 8%. The P/E ratio for the current financial year (F1) is 16.82, lower than the industry average of 20.09. Its earnings estimate for the current year has gained 7.9% over the last 30 days.

ManpowerGroup Inc. (NYSE:MAN – Free Report) is a leading non-governmental employment services organization. The company has a VGM Score of A. ManpowerGroup has an expected earnings growth rate of 8.6% for the current year. Its earnings estimate for the current year has improved 3.8% over the last 30 days. The P/E ratio for the current financial year (F1) is 12.60, lower than the industry average of 13.37.

Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCRN – Free Report) is engaged in staffing of clinical research professionals and allied healthcare professionals. The company has VGM Score of A. Cross Country Healthcare has an expected earnings growth rate of 12.5% for the current year compared with the industry average of 9.6%. Its earnings estimate for the current year has jumped 10.4% over the last 30 days.

Confidential: Zacks' Best Investment Ideas

Would you like to see a hand-picked "all-star" selection of investment ideas from the man who heads up Zacks' trading and investing services? Steve Reitmeister knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click for his selected trades right now >>

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1 Stock of the Day pick for free.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>.

Get the full Report on FRAN - FREE

Get the full Report on MCRI - FREE

Get the full Report on MAN - FREE

Get the full Report on CCRN - FREE

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.

Media Contact
Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

support@zacks.com

https://www.zacks.com/

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.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
FRANCESCAS HLDG (FRAN): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
MONARCH CASINO (MCRI): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
MANPOWER INC WI (MAN): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
CROSS COUNTRY (CCRN): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.