Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: Gentiva Health Services, Inc., MetroPCS, Yahoo! Inc., Google and Boeing Company

Zacks Equity Research highlights Gentiva Health Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: GTIV) as the Bull of the Day and MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS) the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Boeing Company (NYSE: BA).

Full analysis of all these stocks is available at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2676.

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Gentiva Health Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: GTIV) has scheduled its third quarter earnings call for October 29th, one week from today. Gentiva reported a second-quarter net income of 59 cents per share which was much higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 45 cents.

The company boasts of a diversified product portfolio. Its product offerings include home health, hospice, respiratory therapies and home medical equipment. Gentiva serves nearly 500,000 patients annually in more than 380 locations across 39 states. Gentiva has successfully grown primarily through acquisitions. During the past few years, the company has completed multiple acquisitions which have expanded its reach further.

Gentiva continues to look for profitable acquisitions. We have an Outperform rating on the stock.

Bear of the Day:

We downgrade our recommendation for MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS) to Underperform, which reflects the company's disappointing results in the last quarter. Reported earnings missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate, partly due to higher operating expenses.

Moreover, subscriber growth decelerated significantly on a sequential basis, hurt by intense competition in the prepaid wireless segment. MetroPCS contends with high churn (customer switch) levels due to increased customer defection as its larger peers continue to lure subscribers with competitive service plans and better product offerings.

We are also concerned about the highly leveraged balance sheet, which may limit the company's ability to invest in growth initiatives moving forward.

Latest Posts on the Zacks Analyst Blog:

Yahoo! Reflects Broad Turnaround

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) reported third quarter earnings that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6 cents. Revenue beat the consensus by 40.7%.

Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) results also thrashed estimates last week, signaling a broad-based recovery as reflected in higher advertisement spending.

Gross revenue of $1.57 billion was flat sequentially (up 0.2%) and down 11.8% year over year. The better-than-expected results were driven by a smaller negative impact of the ad quality initiatives announced in the second quarter and a stronger affiliate business than was originally anticipated.

The decline from the year-ago quarter indicates that although business seems to be improving, it is still at a significantly lower level than the pre-recession period.

Boeing Flies Lower in 3Q

The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) has posted a third quarter loss of $1.6 million or $2.23 per diluted share, worse than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $2.12 per share. Last year, the company reported a net income of $695 million or 96 cents per share.

Earnings in the quarter were affected due to reclassification to research and development of costs for the first three 787-series test airplanes incurred in July ($2.46 per share) as well as in August and September (14 cents per share). The company also digested a charge of 99 cents per share from the delay in producing a new version of the 747-8 series freighter jet leading to late design changes.

On the other hand, revenues rose 9% to $16.7 billion from $15.3 billion in the year-ago period. The upside came from increased military aircraft deliveries and higher volume in services in its Integrated Defense Systems business. Its Commercial Airplanes segment improved on higher deliveries. Commercial Airplanes revenues had been affected in the year-ago period due to labor strikes and supplier production problems.

Get the full analysis of all these stocks by going to http://at.zacks.com/?id=2649.

About the Bull and Bear of the Day

Every day, the analysts at Zacks Equity Research select two stocks that are likely to outperform (Bull) or underperform (Bear) the markets over the next 3-6 months.

About the Analyst Blog

Updated throughout every trading day, the Analyst Blog provides analysis from Zacks Equity Research about the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets.

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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.

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