Chart of the Day: EFX - Data Analytics Pioneer

The Chart of the Day belongs to the data analytics company Equifax (EFX). I found the stock by using Barchart's powerful screening functions to find stocks with the highest technical buy signals, highest Weighted Alpha, superior current momentum and having a Trend Seeker buy signal then used the Flipchart feature to review the charts for consistent price appreciation. Since the Trend Seeker signaled a buy on 6/12 the stock gained 21.64%.

                                                                                                           EFX Price vs Daily Moving Averages (Barchart)

Equifax Inc. operates as a data, analytics, and technology company. The company operates through three segments: Workforce Solutions, U.S. Information Solutions (USIS), and International. The Workforce Solutions segment offers services that enables customers to verify income, employment, educational history, criminal justice data, healthcare professional licensure, and sanctions of people in the United States; and employer customers with services that assist them in complying with and automating payroll-related and human resource management processes throughout the entire cycle of the employment relationship. The USIS segment provides consumer and commercial information services, such as credit information and credit scoring, credit modeling and portfolio analytics, locate, fraud detection and prevention, identity verification, and other consulting services; mortgage services; financial marketing services; identity management services; and credit monitoring products. The International segment offers information service products, which include consumer and commercial services, such as credit and financial information, and credit scoring and modeling; and credit and other marketing products and services, as well as offers information, technology, and other services to support debt collections and recovery management. The company serves customers in financial services, mortgage, retail, telecommunications, utilities, automotive, brokerage, healthcare, and insurance industries, as well as government agencies. It operates in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the United States. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Barchart's Opinion Trading systems are listed below. Please note that the Barchart Opinion indicators are updated live during the session every 20 minutes and can therefore change during the day as the market fluctuates. The indicator numbers shown below therefore may not match what you see live on the Barchart.com website when you read this report.

Barchart Technical Indicators:

• 100% technical buy signals
• 54.56+ Weighted Alpha
• 1.56 - 60 month Beta (New Today)
• 54.47% gain in the last year
• Trend Seeker buy signal
• Above its 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages
• 12 new highs and up 9.95% in the last month
• Relative Strength Index 68.27%
• Technical support level at $293.75
• Recently traded at $296.45 with 50 day moving average of $263.15

Fundamental Factors:

• Market Cap $36.88 billion
• P/E 43.04
• Dividend Yield .52%
• Revenue expected to grow 8.70% this year and another 11.70% next year
• Earnings estimated to increase 9.10% this year, an additional 30.20% next year and continue to compound at an annual rate of 20.54% for the next 5 years

Analysts and Investor Sentiment -- I don't buy stocks because everyone else is buying but I do realize that if major firms and investors are dumping a stock it's hard to make money swimming against the tide:

• Wall Street analyst gave 14 strong buy, 1 buy and 4 hold opinions on the stock
• Analysts' price targets are between $232 and $340 with a consensus of $297
• Value Line gives the stock its average rating of 3 with price targets between $220 and 4.21 and a mid-point of $320
• CFRAs MarketScope rates the stock a 5 star strong buy with a price target of $310
• MorningStar rates the stock an average 3 star with Fair Value at $295
• 13,210 investors monitor the stock on Seeking Alpha

Additional disclosure: The Barchart Chart of the Day highlights stocks that are experiencing exceptional current price appreciation. They are not intended to be buy recommendations as these stocks are extremely volatile and speculative. Should you decide to add one of these stocks to your investment portfolio it is highly suggested you follow a predetermined diversification and moving stop loss discipline that is consistent with your personal investment risk tolerance and reevaluate your stop losses at least on a weekly basis.