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New: Introducing “Why Is It Moving?” - lightning-fast, AI-driven explanations of stock moves
Chicago, IL – October 20, 2025 – Zacks Equity Research shares Acuity Inc. (AYI) as the Bull of the Day and Dine Brands Global, Inc. DIN as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Zions Bancorporation ZION, Western Alliance Bancorp. WAL and JPMorgan JPM.
Here is a synopsis of all five stocks:
Acuity Inc. is a market-beating, high-tech lighting, energy efficiency, and building systems stock on the cusp of a potential breakout, while trading at value-stock levels.
AYI benefits from reshoring, AI data center expansion, and the broader push for energy efficiency and connected smart spaces across the economy. Acuity completed two acquisitions in FY25 and posted a beat-and-raise Q4 FY25 report in early October.
The industrial technology company is expected to post double-digit earnings growth in FY26 and FY27, and its upbeat earnings estimates have earned AYI a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Acuity stock has soared 1,200% in the past 20 years, crushing the S&P 500. Despite trading near its recent all-time highs, the dividend-paying stock trades at a 40% discount to its peaks on the valuation front—which is an increasingly attractive quality for best-in-class stocks in a seemingly overheated market.
In its own words, Acuity uses "technology to solve problems in spaces, light, and more things to come." AYI reports via Acuity Brands Lighting and Acuity Intelligent Spaces, aiming to grow across lighting, lighting controls, building management solutions, as well as audio, video, control platform solutions, and beyond.
The Atlanta-based firm's growing portfolio of lighting and connected smart building solutions operates across the entire economy, from commercial office spaces, retail, and residential to industrial, infrastructure, and healthcare.
Acuity's lighting offerings are at the cutting edge of the modern connected world, focused on saving energy and constantly adapting to current needs. Beyond lighting, Acuity's technologies help control and improve systems like heating, air conditioning, security, audio/video tech, and more.
Connected smart offices and buildings are the future as companies of all shapes and sizes race to become as efficient and adaptable as possible.
Acuity's portfolio is also prepared to grow alongside the rise of power-hungry artificial intelligence data centers desperate to save every last bit of energy they can. Broader long-term trends across reshoring and infrastructure spending provide additional wind in AYI's sails.
The company boosted its portfolio via two acquisitions (QSC and M3 Innovation) in fiscal 2025. The company also raised its dividend by 13% last year, while boasting a low payout ratio of 4%, which provides it with long-term runway for more hikes.
AYI posted solid beat-and-raise fourth quarter FY25 results on October 1. It grew its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) by 16% in fiscal 2025 and its revenue by 13%.
The company is set to follow that up with 10% revenue growth in FY26 and 5.4% growth in FY27 to reach $5 billion—up from $3.8 billion in FY24.
The industrial smart lighting company is projected to grow its adjusted EPS by roughly 10% in FY26 and FY27.
AYI has topped our quarterly earnings estimates for five years running. More importantly, its EPS revisions picture began to climb again after its strong Q4, earning Acuity a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and restarting its strong upward earnings revisions trend over the past five years.
Acuity is gaining more attention from Wall Street recently. Zacks has nine brokerage recommendations for AYI, up from seven three months ago, with six coming in at "Strong Buys." Plus, the company has a solid balance sheet that will support further expansion, dividends, and other initiatives that will benefit investors in the long run.
Acuity skyrocketed 1,200% over the past 20 years, more than doubling the S&P 500. The stock has climbed 72% in the past decade to outclimb its Zacks Business Services sector's 55%.
Despite this run, AYI didn't break out meaningfully above its previous 2016 peaks until the last year.
Its 110% charge in the past two years helped it wash away a rough stretch from 2016 to the stock market's Covid lows in 2020. The stock is trading just below its new all-time highs and 6% under its average Zacks price target.
AYI completed a bullish golden cross in early August, with its 50-day moving average crossing above its 200-day. On top of that, its long-term 21-week moving average crossed above its 50-week in September.
The stock might face selling pressure in the short-term and possibly test its 21-day, 50-day, or even 200-day moving average. Pullbacks to those levels could mark strong entry points for traders.
Long-term investors might not want to play the market-timing game on AYI stock, given its broader bull case that's cemented by its valuation.
Acuity trades at a 10% discount to its Zacks sector, even though it has outperformed that group. Better yet, AYI trades at a 40% discount to its highs and near its 20-year median at 19.1X forward 12-month earnings.
At the same time, the AI-boosted rebound has the S&P 500 trading near some of its highest valuation levels in the past 20 years.
Acuity's valuation levels, coupled with its growth outlook and other key fundamentals, could help it gain even more momentum and attention from Wall Street.
Dine Brands Global, Inc. stock has tanked 60% in the past three years, while its Zacks sector climbed 65% and its Retail–Restaurants industry climbed 12%.
The restaurant giant behind Applebee's and other chains has a rough balance sheet, and its earnings revisions have tumbled over the past several years as Dine Brands struggles to navigate multiple headwinds.
Dine Brands operates restaurants via subsidiaries and franchisees under the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar, IHOP, and Fuzzy's Taco Shop brands. The Pasadena, California-headquartered company boasted that its portfolio consisted of roughly 3,500 restaurants across 19 international markets as of June 30.
DIN has struggled since its massive post-Covid lockdown boom that benefited every area of the consumer economy. Since then, soaring inflation and slowing consumer spending have hurt revenue and crushed its bottom line.
On top of that, consumers have more dining options than ever, and more people are trying to eat healthier.
The chart above shows that DIN's earnings estimates fell off a cliff over the past several years. Dine Brands missed our Q2 earnings estimate by 22% and provided downbeat earnings per share (EPS) guidance.
DIN's Most Accurate estimates came in well below consensus for Q3, FY25, and FY26 (see below). Dine Brands' overall negative EPS revisions earn the stock a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
Some investors might want to start bottom-feeding on Dine Brands stock since it's trading near its Covid lows while the broader stock market sits near fresh records.
But it might be wise to stay away from DIN since it has underperformed its industry by a wide margin over the past 10 years (down -68% vs. its industry's +75% climb).
The Retail–Restaurants space is in the bottom 15% of roughly 240 Zacks industries. This amplifies its near-term bear case since studies have shown that roughly half of a stock's price movement can be attributed to its industry group. And the top 50% of Zacks Ranked Industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
On top of that, Dine Brands has more liabilities (total and current) than assets (total and current).
Yesterday, U.S. stock indices declined sharply after regional banks Zions Bancorporation and Western Alliance Bancorp. disclosed loan losses and fraud allegations. Zions and Western Alliance stocks tanked and closed the session down 13.1% and 10.8%, respectively.
The disclosure reignited investor fears about the overall health of the regional banking sector. The concern spread across the broader financial sector, with the KBW Regional Banking Index (KRE) dropping 6.3% and nearly all its constituents closing sharply lower in the session.
Zions announced, in a filing, that a $50 million charge-off tied to two troubled commercial loans from its California Bank & Trust division will be included in its third-quarter 2025 results. This involved alleged misrepresentations and contractual defaults by borrowers. ZION is scheduled to announce quarterly numbers on Monday, Oct. 20.
Additionally, Western Alliance disclosed a lawsuit against Cantor Group V, LLC over loan fraud. Earlier in the week, it emerged that WAL had exposure to bankrupt auto-related companies such as First Brands Group and Tricolor Holdings. Despite revealing these matters, the company noted that as of Sept. 30, 2025, its total criticized assets are lower on a sequential basis. The bank is slated to report third-quarter numbers on Tuesday, Oct. 21.
On Oct. 14, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, while discussing the losses his bank experienced from the downfall of Tricolor Holdings, said it was "not our finest moment." JPM disclosed a $170 million charge-off related to its wholesale lending to Tricolor. Further, Dimon warned that there could be many more such issues. He said, "My antenna goes up when things like that happen. I shouldn't say this, but when you see one cockroach, there's probably more. Everyone should be forewarned on this one."
Such disclosures by lenders actually highlighted a new reality: fraud is no longer just a compliance issue but a credit quality matter. This raises questions about the risk management and underwriting standards at regional banks, making investors more cautious about the sector's overall health. Investors are now scrutinizing regional banks more closely for other potential hidden loan problems.
Although ZION, WAL and JPM emphasized that these exposures were isolated, the market saw them as warning signs of broader credit deterioration, especially with continued bankruptcies and fraud surfacing in the opaque private credit market. These incidents heightened concerns about the rapidly expanding private credit market.
The spike in loan troubles and fraud risk has put regional lenders at the forefront of market turbulence. This has also renewed anxieties about overall credit quality and potential ripple effects through the U.S. financial system.
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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/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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