text: -18.39 (-100.00%)
  59,299.54
  +1,103.00 (+1.90%)
  +131.96 (+9.19%)
  29,525.42
  +167.60 (+0.57%)
  November 12, 2020, 9:14 AM ·6 min read
  Chicago, IL – November 12, 2020 – Zacks Market Edge is a podcast hosted weekly by Zacks Stock Strategist Tracey Ryniec. Every week, Tracey will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life. To listen to the podcast, click here:
  1. Macerich MAC owns 47 regional shopping malls near big urban centers in the United States. As of Oct 7, all of its properties had finally reopened. Rent collections have been improving since the spring. In the third quarter rent collections were at 80%, up from 61% in the second quarter. Macerich has resumed paying a dividend. Shares popped on the vaccine news, but are still cheap with a forward P/E of just 3.8x.
  2. Hilton HLT is also seeing improvement from its second quarter, especially in occupancy. But there's still a long way to go to get back to pre-pandemic levels. There's also uncertainty as another wave of the virus is hitting the US and Europe. It's dividend and share repurchases remain suspended.
  3. Marriott MAR saw big improvement in the third quarter in China, which has the virus mostly under control, as occupancy in Greater China was 61%. North America, however, still struggled at 37%, but that was double Q2 occupancy. Shares were up over 20% on the vaccine news, but are still down 22% year-to-date.
  4. US Foods USFD is one of the largest food distributors in the United States servicing over 300,000 restaurants and food service operators. They are at ground zero of the impacts from the pandemic but in the third quarter case volume and net sales improved throughout the quarter. At the end of the third quarter, it had $1 billion in cash on hand.
  5. Thor Industries THO makes RVs and the popular Airstream. Thor was considered a pandemic play. The shares peaked in August and have lost 24% in the last 3 months. But demand from both Baby Boomers and Millennials is expected to remain well past the end of the pandemic. RV buyers tend to upgrade to the new model every three to five years. Thor shares are cheap, with a forward P/E of just 12.