Zacks Earnings and Margins Strategy highlights: Advisory Board Co., AAR Corp., Champion Enterprises, and Western Sierra Bancorp

Business Wire, Nov 10, 2005

CHICAGO -- Earnings are the single most important metric for a company. Combine that with a healthy Net Profit Margin and you find a screen that has generated a cumulative return of 425% since January 2001. During the first half of 2005, this screen continued its winning ways with a 13.8% return. This screen is called the Earnings and Margins Profit Track strategy. Here are four stocks meeting this screen's exclusive criteria: Advisory Board Co. (NASDAQ:ABCO), AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR), Champion Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:CHB), and Western Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:WSBA). View the entire list of stocks for the Earnings and Margins Profit Track at http://at.zacks.com/?id=1858

Here are four companies that meet the following Earnings and Margin Profit Track:

Advisory Board Co. (NASDAQ:ABCO) reported fiscal second-quarter earnings in late October. The result topped last year's second quarter and matched the consensus estimate. The company noted that its performance was driven by cutting-edge research agendas and continued program innovation, which led to strong renewal performance and continued growth across ABCO's program portfolio. The company, which has a net margin of .16, managed to produce annual earnings growth of about 15% above the previous year.

AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) generated impressive earnings growth of 400% last year over the previous year. The company, a worldwide leader in supplying aftermarket products and services to the global aerospace/aviation industry, reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of 15 cents per share in late September. The result surpassed the consensus estimate by about 7% and eclipsed last year's first-quarter earnings. The company stated that sales and earnings growth for the quarter were driven by increased sales in the Aviation Supply Chain, Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul and Structures & Systems segments.

Champion Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:CHB) posted third-quarter earnings of 20 cents per share in mid-October, matching analysts' expectations and outperforming the year prior total. The company stated that the third quarter was marked by continued progress toward attaining its goals of improved margins and modular growth. CHB experienced earnings growth of almost 120% for its most recently completed year versus the previous year.

Western Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:WSBA) is a profitable company as evidenced by its net margin of .20. WSBA has also demonstrated solid year-over-year growth with the full year 2004 posting earnings growth of nearly 20% above the year prior. In mid-October, the company announced GAAP earnings of 59 cents per share for the third quarter. The result improved on last year's 49 cents and outpaced the consensus estimate by almost 2%.

Discover all the current stocks currently on the Earnings and Margin Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=1859

About Profit Tracks

What is a "Profit Track"? Each Profit Track is a successful stock picking strategy with proven results through the Bear Market of 2001-2002 and the Bull run started in 2003. On Zacks.com we have created these nine unique screens to offer investors great strategies to potentially outperform the market in the years ahead. In 2004, the Upgrades and Revisions strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of 55.7% followed by the Low Price Stocks screen with a 54.8% return. To see all nine strategies along with philosophy, past performance, and current stocks, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=1838

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