Titan Machinery (TITN) and Neoprobe (NEOP) - Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers

It was REALLY easy to pick out a Zacks #1 Rank Top Performer to highlight today. 

The market decided to start the week with a triple-digit loss, but there was one company that clearly broke free from the downward momentum – though it took a strong quarterly report with an encouraging outlook to do it.

Shares of Titan Machinery Inc. (TITN) jumped by practically 15% Monday – a day when only a handful of companies managed to stay above water. Investors obviously hid behind TITN during this rough session, as more than 1.7 million shares changed hands, compared to the daily average of barely 180,000.

Titan Machinery owns and operates a network of full service agricultural and construction equipment stores in the U.S. It is currently the only company from the retail/wholesale auto/truck industry on today's Zacks #1 Rank List.

TITN did just about everything that you want to see a Zacks #1 Rank stock do in a quarterly report. First of all, it announced earnings per share of 57 cents for its fiscal fourth quarter today, which was better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 36 cents by nearly 60%. It was also the company’s second straight quarter with a positive surprise.

Also, revenue jumped by 46% in the quarter to $368.1 million from $252.3 million a year earlier. The company stated that equipment, parts and service all contributed to this improvement.

However, the biggest news out of Titan Machinery today was its EPS outlook of between $1.50 and $1.60 for the fiscal year ending January 2012. At the time of the announcement, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for that period was at only $1.38 per share.

Due to this solid outlook, earnings estimates for TITN are likely to move even higher in the coming days, which will go a long way in keeping the company on the Zacks #1 Rank List. There are a total of 5 estimates for 2012.

But even before its quarterly announcement, earnings estimates for TITN had been moving in the right direction. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this year is up 7% in 3 months, including a gain of about 3% in the past 30 days.

The closest company to TITN on Monday was Neoprobe Corporation (NEOP), which gained approximately 9.7%. Volume moved past 1.9 million shares, compared to the daily average of around 625,000.

NEOP is a biomedical company focused on enhancing oncology patient care and improving patient benefit. It currently markets the newoprobe® GDS line of gamma detection systems that are widely used by cancer surgeons. It also holds significant interest in the development of related biomedical systems and radiopharmaceutical agents including Lymphoseek® and RIGScan™ CR.

The company is part of the medical – biomed/genetic industry. The sole other name from that group on today's Zacks #1 Rank List is Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corp. (TLCR).

The only news out of NEOP today was an agreement with Platinum Montaur Life Sciences, LLC and affiliate Platinum Partners Value Arbitrage Fund L.P. regarding the nomination of directors and other matters related to NEOP's 2011 annual meeting.

Last month, though, Neoprobe announced fourth-quarter results, which included a loss of 3 cents per share that matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Revenues jumped by 30% to $3.2 billion from $2.4 billion last year.

According to the company, its gamma detection device business continues to demonstrate a positive performance, it is moving closer to commercializing Lymphoseek, and is making strides in moving its other initiatives forward to support its expanded pipeline.

As is often the case with the usually turbulent biotech sector, there aren't many estimates for NEOP. Still, the trend is moving upward. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2011 is currently a loss of 7 cents per share. That's not exactly something to write home about, but it is still 2 cents narrower than the 9-cent loss expected 2 months ago. There are 2 estimates for this period.

There's only one estimate currently for 2012, but it is expecting a returned to profitability for Neoprobe. The Zacks Consensus Estimate of a penny per share compares favorably with a loss of 2 cents per share from 60 days ago.

 
NEOPROBE CORP (NEOP): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
TITAN MACHINERY (TITN): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
TALECRIS BIOTHR (TLCR): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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