The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Hallmark Financial, Chuy's, Boot Barn, Exantas And Eagle Bancorp

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL –August 21, 2019 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Hallmark Financial Services Inc. (NASDAQ:HALL) , Chuy's Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CHUY) , Boot Barn Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BOOT) , Exantas Capital Corp. (NYSE:XAN) and Eagle Bancorp Montana Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT) .

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Small Business Optimism Rebounds in July: 5 Top Picks

Small business organizations’ optimism bounced back in July after it suffered a setback in the previous month. Lingering trade conflict with China, concerns about slowing U.S. and global economy and several geopolitical concerns failed to dampen the confidence of small business owners.

Small Business Optimism Bounces Back in July

Last week, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported that the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose to 104.7 in July from 103 in June. Notably, July’s reading was close to that of May’s index value of 105, the highest since October 2018. More importantly, the uncertainty index fell 10 points after it surged in June, which was the highest level since March 2017.

While optimism remains at historically high levels, the July figure reversed the loss posted in June, with seven of the total 10 survey components increasing, two components declining and one remaining unchanged. Both capital spending and plans to order new inventories advanced in July.

Why Small Business Is Important

Small corporates create a significant amount of jobs in the U.S. economy. More than 50% of the newly created jobs in the private sector originate here. These people constitute a large part of customers for big businesses.

Moreover, small companies are a major part of the supply chain management systems of large companies for innovative and technologically superior inputs. Additionally, small businesses often end up being an important part of corporate America's customer base.

U.S. Economy Remains Strong

On Aug 15, the Department of Commerce reported a 0.7% jump in retail sales in July compared with 0.3% in June. Moreover, core retail sales (excluding sales at auto dealers and gasoline stations) increased 1% in July, surpassing June’s rise of 0.3%.

On Jul 31, the Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence index for July skyrocketed to 135.7 compared with 124.3 in June. In addition, a healthy labor market with 164,000 job additions in July, and a 50-year low unemployment rate of 3.7% boosted consumer confidence.

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Small Caps Are Important in a Volatile Market

Small-cap stocks carry some special features that make them very useful in a volatile market. They are mostly immune to any external shock since the United States is the primary market of their products. This is aiding this segment to outperform the broader market defying extreme volatility.

Owing to their domestic business strategy, small-cap stocks are immune to the movement of the U.S. dollar. A strong U.S. dollar will make exports of large companies uncompetitive. However, small-cap stocks remain unaffected by foreign exchange volatility.

Our Top Picks

At this stage, it will be prudent to invest in small-cap stocks with a favorable Zacks Rank and strong growth potential. We have narrowed down our search to five stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see Zacks Investment Research

Written By: Zacks Investment Research