ABB and American Eagle Outfitters have been highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day

For Immediate ReleaseChicago, IL – June 5, 2025 – Zacks Equity Research shares ABB ABBNY as the Bull of the Day and American Eagle Outfitters AEO as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Pinterest, Inc. PINS, Meta Platforms, Inc. META and Snap, Inc. SNAP.Here is a synopsis of all five stocks.Bull of the Day:ABB is a $100 billion Zurich-based industrial company that specializes in electrification and automation. ABB's products and services help manufacturers and governments achieve greater efficiency, energy management, and sustainability.Companies with some similar business lines might include Eaton (ETN), Siemens, and Johnson Controls. But ABB stands out with its robotics division. And they get to do "cool" stuff at the world's premier particle physics accelerator.ABB and CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, identified in 2024 significant energy-saving potential through a strategic research partnership focused on the cooling and ventilation system at one of the world’s leading laboratories for particle physics in Geneva, Switzerland. The study included energy efficiency audits which helped identify a savings potential of 17.4% across a fleet of 800 motors.ABB's four business segments -- Electrification, Robotics & Discrete Automation, Process Automation, and Motion -- are approaching a combined $35 billion in sales this year at modest 6-7% growth. What made ABB a Zacks #2 Rank recently was EPS estimates climbing to 13.6% growth after a first quarter 11% positive surprise.I wanted to learn more about their business after I found they were one of the top holdings in the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ).Turns out that ABB has interesting plans. On April 17 the company announced that it will launch a process to propose to its Annual General Meeting in 2026 to decide on a 100% spin-off of its Robotics division. The intention is for the business to start trading as a separately listed company during the second quarter of 2026.From Electricity to AI, 140 Years of InnovationThis robotics spin-off is interesting because as I dove into the history of ABB, I see that they developed a unique operational structure and approach in the past five years.In 2020, the company introduced the "ABB Way" operating model, decentralizing the company. Henceforth, the company’s 20-odd divisions assumed the highest operating level, with full accountability for their strategies, resources and performance.So it makes sense that a division entering a new era of possibility would want to stand completely alone as it evolves.In 2015, ABB introduced YuMi, the world's first truly collaborative robot, capable of working safely alongside human beings.And the company's roots go back 130 years prior to Sweden where a company called ASEA was building the world's first three-phase systems for generators, transformers and motors.Meanwhile in 1893, a Swiss company called BBC supplied Europe’s first large-scale combined heat and power plant producing alternating current.It's fascinating to know the European story of innovation that was jump-started by the discoveries in electromagnetism of James Clerk Maxwell only two decades before.After a century of innovating independently, in 1988 ABB was formed from the merger of ASEA of Sweden and BBC of Switzerland. The new company, headquartered in Zurich, had annual revenues of $17 billion and 160,000 employees at the time.The US Footprint Is Big and WideNow they have 110,000 employees (subsequent of various M&A including buying GE Industrial and selling its Power Grids segment to Hitachi) and maintain 170 manufacturing sites around globally.In the US, ABB employs over 18,500 staff at 40+ manufacturing and assembly locations, from the northeast, across the southeast and Midwest, to the newest facility in New Mexico.Electrification is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and Robotics & Discrete Automation is in Auburn Hills, Michigan.Motion (think motors, drives and generator products) is based in Fort Smith, Arkansas and Process Automation (think digital control technologies for plant operations) is steered from Houston, Texas.ABB claims that their Process Automation segment -- providing software, advanced services, and analytics to help customers create their own "safe and smart operations" -- is #2 in the market globally.Robotics = Physical AIAs my readers and fellow investors know, I follow NVIDIA pretty closely and we are now in a phase of fully exploring what Jensen means by "physical AI."Essentially, when intelligence crosses the threshold to "embody" an autonomous machine, whether car or robot, the rules change a lot. Because now human safety hangs in the balance.At the Computex conference in Taiwan last month, NVIDIA unveiled three vectors to address the challenge: Isaac GR00T N1.5, the first update to NVIDIA’s open, generalized, fully customizable foundation model for humanoid reasoning and skills; NVIDIA Isaac GR00T-Dreams, a blueprint for generating synthetic motion data; and NVIDIA Blackwell systems to accelerate humanoid robot development."Physical AI and robotics will bring about the next industrial revolution," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "From AI brains for robots to simulated worlds to practice in or AI supercomputers for training foundation models, NVIDIA provides building blocks for every stage of the robotics development journey."The ABB Spin-Off Will Chart a PathDozens of robotics startups are using NVIDIA tools to build the future of physical AI. And some of them will, if they make the cut, plan an IPO in the next few years.Here's how ABB describes their Robotics division...ABB Robotics is a technology leader and provides intelligent automation solutions to help its global customer base achieve improved productivity, flexibility and simplicity to solve operational challenges including labor shortages and the need to operate more sustainably. Customer value is created through the differentiated offering of the broadest robotics platforms, including Autonomous Mobile Robots, software and AI combined with proven domain expertise to a broad range of traditional and new industry segments. More than 80 percent of the offering is software/AI enabled.This "IPO" could be less than a year away. And it will be closely watched by all industry participants and AI investors.Here's what I told my TAZR Trader members on Tuesday when we bought a robotics company...The Biggest Industry in the History of the Planet"We've already heard Jensen say that humanoid robots will be the next multi-trillion-dollar industry.Marc Andreessen doesn't talk much about NVIDIA. But he just uttered the above (in quotes) and he follows closely what Elon is doing with Tesla (TSLA) Optimus and says general-purpose robotics is going to happen at giant scale in the next decade.So the US shouldn't try to get the old manufacturing jobs back -- instead, we should lean hard into designing and building robots before we are surrounded by ones designed by China.There's possible irony that robotics could be bigger than AI. Here's how one expert I follow describes it..."In fact, robotics is often ignored in the discussion about AI. It will be the even more significant disruptive part, which was only made possible by AI. It is literally unimaginable how we will live in 10 years' time."Be sure to check out my Monday video and article here...The Week in AI where I talk about the next most important private robotics company (next to Tesla's Optimus).Note: This entire article was researched and written by yours truly without the aid of any "chatterbot" LLMs. Take that AI overlords!Bear of the Day:Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) stockAmerican Eagle Outfitters is a Pittsburgh-based specialty casual apparel retailer. American Eagle Outfitters offers accessories and footwear for men and women, with a main target demographic of people between 15 and 25 years old. The company and its subsidiaries design and market casual clothing including jeans, cargo pants, graphic T-shirts, outerwear, and other accessories. AEO has three main brands, including:· AE Brand: Under this brand, the company sells the latest fashion apparel and accessories for men and women in the 15 to 25 age group.· Aerie by American Eagle: Launched in 2006, Aerie is a lifestyle brand that provides simple and stylish apparel, especially for young girls. The company sells apparel through its standalone Aerie stores across the United States and Canada and globally through its online channel, aerie.com.· AEO Direct: AEO Direct is American Eagle’s online retailing channel, through which it sells a wide range of apparel and accessories from its different brands. The company merchandises its products through e-commerce websites, ae.com and aerie.com.The Death of the MallThe number of malls in the US has dropped precipitously over the past few decades from more than 2,000 in the 1980s to roughly 700 today. While there has been a slight resurgence in the beginning of 2025, mall foot traffic has exhibited a troubling downtrend over the past five years in the wake of the COVIDD-19 pandemic and a shift to online shopping. Though AEO operates an e-commerce website, it is heavily reliant on its brick-and-mortar stores, which represent about two-thirds of its revenue.Tariffs Impact American EaglePresident Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” threw a wrench into businesses like American Eagle. The company sources its close from several tariff-impacted countries including China, Vietnam, Mexico, and Indonesia to name a few.AEO Exhibits Relative Price WeaknessAEO shares are showing troubling relative price action versus the S&P 500 Index. Year-to-date, shares are down nearly 40%, while the S&P 500 is flat.The Competition Is WinningA challenging retail landscape and aggressive promotional strategies contribute to American Eagle’s poor performance. For instance, Abercrombie & Fitch,a casual apparel retailer that serves a similar crowd to AEO, expects EPS to jump 70% in 2025 compared to AEO’s 14%.AEO: Analysts See More Pain AheadMarkets are generally forward-looking. However, Wall Street analysts see negative EPS growth this year and AEO’s EPS to plunge by 52% next year!Bottom Line“The death of the mall,” ongoing tariff impacts, and relative price weakness paint a challenging picture for casual apparel retailer American Eagle Outfitters.Additional content:Pinterest's AI Prowess Is Driving Growth: Will It Persist?Pinterest, Inc. is witnessing consistent user growth across all regions in the past several quarters. In the first quarter of 2025, global monthly active users (MAUs) reached 570 million, a record high for the company. Europe reported a MAUs growth of 5% year over year, while the United States and Canada were up 4%. MAUs from the Rest of World reported a solid improvement of 14%, backed by the company’s initiative to accelerate international expansion and open up new monetization opportunities.Pinterest’s growth strategy is focused on bringing more actionable content on the platform from a wide range of sources such as users, creators, publishers and retailers. Its leading-edge AI recommendation model works as a core element of the platform’s backend infrastructure. The AI model not only shows what the users want at the current moment, but it also effectively anticipates future emerging trends. It leverages a rich dataset derived from searches, saves, and clicks of Pinterest’s vast client base worldwide to generate 400 million predictions every second. This staggering speed and scale allow Pinterest to efficiently understand user intent and drive relevance across the platform.Moreover, such deep personalization brings far-reaching commercial benefits. It allows Pinterest to introduce audiences to relevant brands, products and emerging trends, boosting the effectiveness of campaigns run by advertisers and retailers. The AI recommendation model has created a strong ecosystem that serves the interests of users, creators, and advertisers across multiple domains and has significantly boosted monetization on the platform.Pinterest is doubling down on improving relevancy and actionability, leveraging AI, which is likely to drive user growth in upcoming quarters. Per our estimate, in 2025, Pinterest's monthly active users are expected to reach 608.6 million, indicating 10.1% growth year over year.How Are Competitors Faring?Pinterest faces significant competition from Meta Platforms, Inc. and Snap, Inc. in the digital advertising space. Snap reported 900 million active users in the first quarter. Its daily active users (DAU) grew 3.1% year over year in Europe and 15.9% year over year in the rest of the world. However, Snap witnessed a 1% decline in DAU in North America during this period.In the first quarter, META recorded 3.43 billion Family Daily Active People (DAP). Family Daily Active People or DAP, defined as a registered and logged-in user who visited at least one of the Family products (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and/or WhatsApp) on a given day. META’s Instagram has emerged as one of the primary competitors for Pinterest. Instagram has strong e-commerce integration, enabling users to shop directly from posts. META is also steadily investing in an AI-powered recommendation system to increase engagement across its platforms.PINS’ Price Performance, Valuation and EstimatesShares of Pinterest gained 15.8% YTD compared with the Internet - Software industry’s growth of 10.6%.Going by the price/sales ratio, the company shares currently trade at 5.11 forward sales, lower than the industry. It carries a Value Score of D.Pinterest is currently witnessing a downtrend in estimate revisions. Earnings estimates for PINS for 2025 have moved down 1.62% to $1.82 over the past 60 days, while the same for 2026 has decreased 2.76% to $2.11.Pinterest stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.Media ContactZacks Investment Research800-767-3771 ext. 9339https://www.zacks.comZacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index.Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance  for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 DaysJust released: Experts distill 7 elite stocks from the current list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buys. They deem these tickers "Most Likely for Early Price Pops."Since 1988, the full list has beaten the market more than 2X over with an average gain of +23.5% per year. So be sure to give these hand picked 7 your immediate attention. See them now >>Want 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 American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (AEO): Free Stock Analysis Report Snap Inc. (SNAP): Free Stock Analysis Report Pinterest, Inc. (PINS): Free Stock Analysis Report Meta Platforms, Inc. (META): Free Stock Analysis Report ABB Ltd (ABBNY): 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