Halliburton (HAL) Among Top Performers - Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers

The Dow loitered around 12,000 on Wednesday; surpassing the mark momentarily before ending the session slightly under. However, this milestone is really just semantics. The fact of the matter is that the market continues to move in the right direction, which put some pretty big Zacks #1 Rank stocks at the apex of the Top Performers List today.

By far and away, the top performer on Wednesday was National Instruments (NATI), which advanced more than 13.3%. It was the only company on the list to move in the double digits today. Volume absolutely soared to more than 1 million shares, compared to the daily average of around 174,000.

Yesterday, this maker of instrumentation software announced fourth-quarter earnings per share of 48 cents; the second straight quarter that outperformed expectations. This time, it surprised by nearly 6.7%, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate was calling for 45 cents. Revenue jumped 24% to $250 million.

Earnings estimates for 2011 and 2012 have yet to reflect an impact from this quarterly announcement, but expectations were moving higher before the results came out anyway. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this year is now $1.62 per share, up 2.5% from 30 days ago as 2 of 6 total estimates were revised higher.

For 2012, the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.91 suggests year-over-year profit growth of practically 18%. This guidance has advanced 2.1% in 30 days on the same ratio of upward revisions to analysts.

National Instruments, which also declared a 3-for-2 stock split during its quarterly report, was the only company from the electronic test equipment industry on today's Zacks #1 Rank List.

Rosetta Resources Inc. (ROSE) isn't going to report again until March, but that didn't keep this independent exploration & production company from riding the market higher on Wednesday by an inch over 8%. Volume neared 1 million at almost 984,000 shares, versus the daily average of a little more than 519,000.

As part of the oil-US exploration & production industry, ROSE is 1 of 3 companies from this space on today's Zacks #1 Rank List. The other 2 are Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. (CWEI) and Vanguard Natural Resources LLC (VNR). (By the way, CWEI was also a Zacks #1 Rank Top Performer today. It gained 7% even, which put it 7th on the list.)

ROSE has experienced 1 upward revision for 2010 and 2011 each in the past 7 days. Even though there are 16 total estimates for each period, those changes were enough to lift the Zacks Consensus Estimates. We are currently expecting 62 cents per share for 2010, which is up 1.6% in the past week. Going back 2 months, the outlook has gained 5%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2011 is $1.48 per share, suggesting year-over-year profit growth of practically 140%. The guidance has increased 2.8% in a week and 25.4% in 2 months.

Back in early November, Rosetta Resources announced third-quarter earnings per share of 17 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.25% and easily exceeded the year-ago result of 11 cents. Revenues increased to $80.3 million from $64.5 million last year. The big star of the quarter for ROSE was its Eagle Ford resource play in South Texas, where positive results continued to flow.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fourth quarter of 2010 is 22 cents, a penny better than 30 days ago and 2 cents better than 2 months ago.

Well, we've saved the biggest and the best known for last. Halliburton (HAL) was right on the heels of ROSE with a gain of 7.96%. On Monday, this major oilfield services provider continued an impressive streak of quarterly EPS outperformance. It earned 68 cents per share for the fourth quarter, marking a nearly 8% surprise over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 63 cents.

Revenues popped by 40% to $5.2 billion in the quarter, also surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate as North American onshore activity levels were strong. For a lot more on HAL's recent fourth quarter announcement, read: Halliburton Posts Big Gain.

Earnings estimates for 2011 have been steadily increasing for months now. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this year is $2.81 per share, which is up 1.4% in 7 days on 12 upward revisions out of 32 total estimates. (There was also 1 downward revision.) The past 3 months have seen an advance that almost approaches 5%.

Estimates for 2012 have been a little tamer, but are still moving in a favorable direction. The Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.34 per share has accelerated 2.8% in 7 days on 9 upward revisions out of 29 total estimates. The past month has seen a gain of 4.4%. At present, analysts are expecting year-over-year earnings growth of nearly 19%.

Halliburton is the only company from the oil-field services industry on today's Zacks #1 Rank List. Volume on Wednesday eclipsed 29.5 million shares, more than doubling the daily average of a little more than 12 million.

 
WILLIAMS(C)ENGY (CWEI): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
HALLIBURTON CO (HAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
NATL INSTRS CP (NATI): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
ROSETTA RESRCS (ROSE): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
VANGUARD NATURL (VNR): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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