Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Equity Residential, Apartment Investors, Freeport McMoRan, Vale and Johnson & Johnson

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CHICAGO--(Business Wire)--
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:
Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR), Apartment Investors (NYSE: AIV), Freeport
McMoRan (NYSE: FCX), Vale (NYSE: VALE) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from
the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579

Here are highlights from Friday`sAnalyst Blog:

An Easy Promise to Keep

With very high vacancy rates for apartments, and lots of cash flow investors
buying up previously foreclosed homes, the supply of rental housing is very high
and this should continue to pressure rents downward. This should make life tough
for the residential-oriented REITs like Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) and
Apartment Investors (NYSE: AIV).

As a general rule, you want to invest in areas where the relative prices are
rising, unless it looks like the trend will reverse. Thus, if the end of the
worldwide slump means higher demand for commodities like copper and iron ore,
then it is worth looking into companies like Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) and
Brazilian mining giant Vale (NYSE: VALE).

One area where prices have consistently been rising faster than average is
Health Care, which was up 0.2% for the month -- matching its increase in June --
and is up 3.2% year over year. The fear is that government action will cause
that to stop, which while good for the country (some would say vital, even)
would not be particularly good for the companies in that sector. As a result, it
now trades at the lowest P/E of any sector, based on consensus expectations for
both this year and next.

While we will probably get some sort of Health Care bill, it is looking more and
more like it will be an extremely watered-down one. This is providing a
wonderful opportunity to get into some extremely high quality stocks like
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) at bargain prices.

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About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis
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Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks.
Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to
developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations
and target prices are six-month time horizons.

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Mark Vickery
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