Landstar System (LSTR) is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) and has seen earnings estimates slide lower recently despite a good history of beating Zacks Consensus Estimate. This article will look at why this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) as it is the Bear of the Day.

Description

Landstar System, Inc. is an asset-light provider of integrated transportation management solutions, incorporated in 1991. Based in Jacksonville, FL, the company provides services throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico as well as other countries in North America.

Earnings History

When I look at a stock, the first thing I do is look to see if the company is beating the number.  This tells me right away where the market’s expectations have been for the company and how management has communicated to the market.  A stock that consistently beats has management communicating expectations to Wall Street that can be achieved.  That is what you want to see.

In the case of LSTR, I see three straight beats of the Zacks Consensus Estimate.  This alone does not make the stock a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and it doesn’t make it a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) either.

The Zacks Rank does care about the earnings history, but it is much more heavily influenced by the movement of earnings estimates.

Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Rank tells us which stocks are seeing earnings estimates move higher or in this case lower.  For LSTR I see annual estimates moving lower of late.

The current fiscal year consensus number moved lower from $7.65 to $7.39 over the last 60 days. 

The next year moved from $8.79 to $7.88 over the last 60 days.

Negative movement in earnings estimates like that is why this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

It should be noted that a lot of stocks in the Zacks universe are seeing negative earnings estimate revisions.  That means that the stocks that are seeing small but negative earnings estimate revisions are falling to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

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