3 Reasons Why Growth Investors Shouldn't Overlook HCI Group (HCI)

Investors seek growth stocks to capitalize on above-average growth in financials that help these securities grab the market's attention and produce exceptional returns. But finding a growth stock that can live up to its true potential can be a tough task.That's because, these stocks usually carry above-average risk and volatility. In fact, betting on a stock for which the growth story is actually over or nearing its end could lead to significant loss.However, the Zacks Growth Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which looks beyond the traditional growth attributes to analyze a company's real growth prospects, makes it pretty easy to find cutting-edge growth stocks.HCI Group (HCI) is one such stock that our proprietary system currently recommends. The company not only has a favorable Growth Score, but also carries a top Zacks Rank.Studies have shown that stocks with the best growth features consistently outperform the market. And for stocks that have a combination of a Growth Score of A or B and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy), returns are even better.While there are numerous reasons why the stock of this property and casualty insurance holding company is a great growth pick right now, we have highlighted three of the most important factors below:Earnings GrowthEarnings growth is arguably the most important factor, as stocks exhibiting exceptionally surging profit levels tend to attract the attention of most investors. For growth investors, double-digit earnings growth is highly preferable, as it is often perceived as an indication of strong prospects (and stock price gains) for the company under consideration.While the historical EPS growth rate for HCI Group is 117%, investors should actually focus on the projected growth. The company's EPS is expected to grow 109.7% this year, crushing the industry average, which calls for EPS growth of 3.4%.Impressive Asset Utilization RatioAsset utilization ratio -- also known as sales-to-total-assets (S/TA) ratio -- is often overlooked by investors, but it is an important indicator in growth investing. This metric exhibits how efficiently a firm is utilizing its assets to generate sales.Right now, HCI Group has an S/TA ratio of 0.36, which means that the company gets $0.36 in sales for each dollar in assets. Comparing this to the industry average of 0.34, it can be said that the company is more efficient.While the level of efficiency in generating sales matters a lot, so does the sales growth of a company. And HCI Group is well positioned from a sales growth perspective too. The company's sales are expected to grow 18.4% this year versus the industry average of 5.5%.Promising Earnings Estimate RevisionsSuperiority of a stock in terms of the metrics outlined above can be further validated by looking at the trend in earnings estimate revisions. A positive trend is of course favorable here. Empirical research shows that there is a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.The current-year earnings estimates for HCI Group have been revising upward. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has surged 3.7% over the past month.Bottom LineHCI Group has not only earned a Growth Score of A based on a number of factors, including the ones discussed above, but it also carries a Zacks Rank #2 because of the positive earnings estimate revisions.You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.This combination indicates that HCI Group is a potential outperformer and a solid choice for growth investors.Don’t Miss Out on These Stocks Before you make your next investing move, we have a free report that highlights the %%CTA_TEXT%% to buy.Our experts at Zacks Investment Research hand-selected these stocks for their eye-opening growth projections.Since 1988, our stock picks have more than doubled the S&P 500 with an average gain of +23.89% per year using the Zacks Rank stock-rating system.Register now to see the %%CTA_TEXT%%.7 best stocksWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report HCI Group, Inc. (HCI): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks