Top Performing Stocks For The Week Ended Jan 23
By Jim Giaquinto
The five best performing on the Zacks #1 Rank List last week were: LaBranche & Co. Inc. (LAB), The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG), El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (EPB), Natural Resource Partners L.P. (NRP) and DeVry, Inc. (DV).

LaBranche & Co. Inc. (LAB) announced net income of 41 cents per share on a pro forma basis last week, which eclipsed both the consensus and year-ago result. The company was a top-performing Zacks #1 Rank company for the week ended Jan 23 as shares moved higher 12.2%.


Earnings estimates for this year are up 21% over the past 7 days. Looking a little further back, expectations have advanced approximately 54% over the past month. Estimates for the company’s first and second quarters each moved higher in the past 7 days as well.

Shares of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG) gained approximately 7.9% last week, which was enough to make the lawn and garden products company a top-performing Zacks #1 Rank. Earnings estimates for this fiscal year, which ends September 2009, are up 6.8% over the past 3 months, including a gain of almost 1% in 30 days. Furthermore, analysts currently expect next fiscal year's profit to advance almost 14% ahead of this fiscal year.

On Jan 22, the company announced that its Board approved the payment of a cash dividend of $0.125 per share, payable Feb 19 to shareholders of record on Feb 5. During the company's annual shareholders meeting, SMG's chairman and CEO stated that he remains confident in the company's prospects for 2009 and that retailers remain supportive of the lawn and garden category. The company will announce its fiscal first-quarter results in early February.

El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (EPB) announced last week that it raised its quarterly cash distribution by 6.7% to 32 cents per unit for the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to 30 cents for the third quarter. The distribution will be paid Feb 13 to holders of record on Jan 30. The company said it was pleased to raise its cash distributions due to its successful acquisition last year.

EPB made the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List for the week ended Jan 23 with shares that advanced 6.5%. One analyst

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raised the earnings estimates for the December 2009 year, sending the earnings expectation slightly higher over the past 7 days. The past 3 months has seen an advance of 2.9%. In addition, analysts currently expect profit for 2009 to increase approximately 17% from 2008. EPB is a Delaware limited partnership formed by El Paso Corporation to own and operate natural gas transportation pipelines and storage assets.

Natural Resource Partners L.P. (NRP) made the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List for the week ended Jan 23 as shares increased 6.1%. Over the past 2 months, earnings estimates for this year and next are up 3.3% and 4.3%, respectively. Also, analysts expect next year's profit to advance approximately 26% over this year. NRP is a master limited partnership that is principally engaged in the business of owning and managing mineral reserve properties. It owns coal reserves and coal handling and transportation infrastructure in the 3 major coal-producing regions of the U.S.

Last week, NRP slightly raised its fourth-quarter 2008 distribution by $0.01 to $0.535 per unit, which will be paid on Feb 13 to unitholders of record on Feb 5. This marks the company's 22nd straight increase in the distribution. Looking toward 2009, the company expects total revenues to increase about 11% over 2008 to between $294 million and $338 million.

DeVry, Inc. (DV) is scheduled to report its fiscal second-quarter results later today. In its fiscal first-quarter, the company reported earnings per share of 48 cents that beat the consensus by more than 9%. Revenues advanced more than 21% from the previous year. The company was also featured as a Growth & Income stock of the day at Zacks.com last week. DV is in a good industry for the current environment, as workers historically look to improve their skills during difficult economic times with rising unemployment.

With shares that gained almost 3.2% last week, DV made the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List. Over the past 2 months, earnings estimates for the fiscal years ending June 2009 and June 2010 are up 1.4% and 3.3%, respectively. Analysts also expect next fiscal year's EPS to gain approximately 25% on this fiscal year.
James Giaquinto is an Editor at Zacks Investment Research covering Zacks Top Performers. For more information please visit www.zacks.com