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YY, Petrobras, Dow Chemical, DuPont and LyondellBasell Investments highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 24, 2014– Zacks Equity Research highlights YY Inc. (YY-Free Report) as the Bull of the Day and Petrobras (PBR-Free Report) as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Dow Chemical (DOW-Free Report), DuPont (DD-Free Report) and LyondellBasell Industries (LYB-Free Report).

Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Chinese Internet stocks certainly took a beating in the weeks leading up to the Alibaba IPO. But many became bargains in the process.

One such Zacks #1 Rank is YY Inc. (YY-Free Report) a $4 billion interactive social platform where users can engage in one-on-one or group activities including games, music, online dating, broadcasting, and education.

While the stock has run hard since trading below $15 in January 2013, its 120% EPS growth this year and 40% growth projected for next year are still attracting aggressive investor attention.

And the 20% slide in shares to around $77 this month has brought the forward P/E down to a respectable 26X this year's $3.27 consensus and only 18X next year's $4.27 estimate.

Is YY the Little Facebook of China?

Here is the company described in their own words...

"YY is a revolutionary rich-communication social platform that engages users in real-time online group activities through voice, text and video. With the capacity to support over one million participants concurrently, our platform allows users to create and organize groups of varying sizes to discover and participate in a wide range of online group activities, such as karaoke, online games, game broadcasting, online dating, E-learning covering language, finance, programming, and other subjects, live shows and conference calls."

Using high-quality voice and video technology, YY has created a large scale community for social interactions and activities. According to iResearch, YY had an 87% market share in the real-time online group voice communications market in China in terms of user time spent in 2013.

Bear of the Day:

Petrobras (PBR-Free Report) shares were in a steady uptrend this year that looks like a swing traders dream with waves of higher highs and higher lows after the giant integrated Brazilian energy company finally bottomed at a multi-year low of $10.

But early September's peak just below $21 was met with some fast and furious liquidation bringing shares back nearly 25% in a couple of weeks.

The cause? More earnings estimate revisions (:EER) of the downward variety. And this is not a new story for PBR since the shares traded back above $50 in late 2009.

Additional content:

U.S. Chemical Production Rises for 8th Straight Month

U.S. chemical output rose on a monthly basis in August with gains witnessed across all regions barring Gulf Coast that saw flat production – according to the latest monthly report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC). This marked the eighth consecutive monthly production gain.

The Washington, DC-based chemical industry trade group recently said that the U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (:CPRI) gained 0.5% in August after a 0.4% rise a month ago, manifesting that the industry remains on the road to recovery in the second half.
The U.S. CPRI, which is measured using a three-month moving average, was created by Moore Economics to track chemical production in seven regions nationwide. It is comparable to the Federal Reserve’s industrial production index for chemicals.

The August reading showed a rise in chemical output in six of the seven regions with Northeast scoring the highest gain of 0.8%. Production in the Gulf Coast, where key building block materials are produced, was flat on a monthly comparison basis in the reported month. Production rose 0.5% across Midwest and Ohio Valley while both Mid-Atlantic and West Coast saw a 0.6% gain. Southeast recorded a 0.4% rise.

Output from the U.S. manufacturing sector, the largest consumer of chemical products, moved up 0.5% in August on a three-month moving average basis after a 0.6% rise a month ago. The sector is a major driver for the chemical industry which touches around 96% of manufactured goods.

Within the manufacturing sector, gains were witnessed in several chemistry end-user markets including motor vehicles, aerospace, appliances, construction materials, machinery, fabricated metal products, computers and electronics, plastic and rubber products, structural panels and textiles.

As witnessed in July, chemical production was once again mixed across the segments in the reported month. Gains across chlor-alkali and other inorganic chemicals, synthetic dyes and pigments, industrial gases, consumer products, pesticides, coatings, adhesives and pharmaceuticals were partly offset by declines in plastic resins, fertilizers, organic chemicals and synthetic fibers.

Overall chemical production went up 1.8% year over year in August with gains recorded across all regions.

The U.S. chemical industry, a more than $800 billion enterprise, is heavily linked to the overall condition of the nation’s economy. It has been consistently leading the U.S. economy’s business cycle due to its early position in the supply chain.

With the U.S. economy getting its groove back, the first half of 2014 showed encouraging demand trends for chemicals and continued recovery across end-use markets such as commercial construction and electronics after being in a rut for the most part of 2013.

While some industry-specific challenges and slow economic recovery in Europe remain roadblocks, the chemical industry is expected to continue to recuperate through the balance of 2014, invigorated by cost benefits from a shale gas boom in the U.S., strength across agriculture and automotive markets, and significant shale-linked capital investment.

Chemical makers including majors like Dow Chemical (DOW-Free Report), DuPont (DD-Free Report), ExxonMobil Chemical and LyondellBasell Industries (LYB-Free Report) are ratcheting up investment on shale gas-linked projects to take advantage of ample natural gas supplies which is expected to boost capacity and export over the next several years.

The ACC expects national chemical production to move up 2.5% in 2014 and further rise to a 3.5% gain next year, aided by strong agricultural market fundamentals, healthy demand from light vehicles market and a recovery in the housing market.

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