Sterling Infrastructure and Taylor Morrison have been highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 19, 2025 – Zacks Equity Research shares Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. STRL , as the Bull of the Day and Taylor Morrison Home Corporation TMHC, as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on — Micron Technology, Inc. MU, NVIDIA Corporation NVDA and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD.

Here is a synopsis of all three stocks:

Bull of the Day:

Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. is a leading U.S. infrastructure company that’s become an under-the-radar Wall Street star over the past five years, posting massive growth on the back of converging megatrends.

Sterling is benefiting from the artificial intelligence data center boom, reshoring, energy industry expansion, and big spending across traditional infrastructure segments, such as roads and beyond.

The U.S. infrastructure standout, which already more than doubled its earnings between 2021 and 2024, is projected to nearly double its EPS again from 2024 to 2026 on the back of strong sales growth.

STRL’s impressive upward earnings revisions trend earns it a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). And it launched a new $400 million stock repurchase plan in November.

The AI infrastructure-boosted stock has soared over 80% in 2025 as part of a huge ~1,500% run in the last five years. Yet investors can buy the stock around 25% below its November records as it looks to find support at a key technical range.

Buy Soaring AI Infrastructure Stock STRL Now and Hold

Sterling is a Texas-based infrastructure standout that specializes in heavy civil and site development projects across three main segments: E-Infrastructure, Transportation, and Building Solutions. The firm focuses on the first phase of construction, from site selection to planning and site prep. Sterling boasts that it can “scale to meet any size project.”

The company’s E-Infrastructure Solutions unit operates across large-scale site work for data centers, e-commerce warehouses, manufacturing, and energy. Its Transportation Solutions space, as the name suggests, is focused on highways, bridges, airports, rail, and more. Sterling’s Building Solutions segment is centered around foundations and more for homes, parking structures, and commercial buildings.

Sterling is capitalizing on compounding megatrends across the U.S. that are just beginning. The company is riding long-term multi-decade upside across the AI data center boom and the rapid energy and grid expansion that’s needed to support the AI age.

On top of that, the U.S. is reshoring critical industries such as semiconductor manufacturing and spending hundreds of billions of dollars on traditional infrastructure such as bridges and roads after decades of neglect.

The firm is ready to grow directly from expansion across “Mission–Critical Markets: Data Centers, Next Generation Manufacturing, Semiconductor Fabrication.”

Infrastructure Stock STRL’s Huge Growth Upside

STRL is landing “mission-critical projects, including data centers and manufacturing.” The company posted a huge beat-and-raise third quarter in early November, topping our Zacks EPS estimate by 25% and providing another round of strong guidance.

It also flexed its financial muscles and upside to shareholders by authorizing a new $400 million stock repurchase program. This backdrop is why all four brokerage recommendations Zacks has are “Strong Buys.”

It grew its signed backlog 34% YoY to $2.6 billion. “With the addition of CEC, the aggregate of our combined backlog and high-probability future phase work gives us visibility into a pool of work totaling more than $4 billion,” CEO Joe Cutillo said in prepared comments.

Sterling is projected to grow its revenue by 13% in 2025 and 19% next year to reach $2.84 billion, after averaging 14% revenue growth in the trailing five years.

Better yet, it is projected to expand its adjusted earnings by 71% this year and 15% next year to nearly double its bottom line from $6.10 in FY24 to $11.95 share in 2026.

The growth-heavy infrastructure company’s earnings estimates have surged by 9% for 2025 and 2026 since its Q3 release to earn Sterling a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The recent positivity extends its impressive run of upward EPS revisions.

It’s also worth stressing that STRL grew its GAAP earnings from $1.50 a share in 2020 to $8.28 in 2024.

Buy this Market-Crushing Stock on the Dip for Upside and Value

STRL has skyrocketed ~1,500% in the past five years to blow away its industry’s 145% and the S&P 500’s 85%. This is part of a much larger surge over the past 25 years. Sterling shares have climbed 80% in 2025, including its 25% drop from its early November records.

The stock jumped 7% on Thursday as the market and the broader AI everything trade rebounded after a mid-week selloff. It found buyers at the critical level highlighted in blue below.

Sterling trades around 35% below its average Zacks price target. The recent 25% pullback, mixed with its strong earnings outlook, has it trading not too far above its industry and the S&P 500 (both around 22.8X) at 25X forward 12-month earnings. This marks impressive value considering STRL has crushed both over the last five and 25 years.

Bear of the Day:

Taylor Morrison Home Corporation is a national land developer and homebuilder giant that’s seen its earnings revisions tumble over the last year based on a multitude of headwinds.

TMHC’s recent negative earnings per share (EPS) revisions earn the homebuilder a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). The company’s near-term outlook remains strained, given the industry and economy-wide setbacks it is facing.

Should Investors Stay Away from TMHC Stock for Now?

Taylor Morrison is one of the largest U.S. homebuilders. The Scottsdale, Arizona-headquartered firm designs, builds, and sells single-family homes, ranging from first-time/entry-level to move-up and luxury/resort-style. TMHC posted booming revenue growth between 2013 and 2022, highlighted by 29% expansion in 2020 and 22% growth in 2021.

The wild Covid-driven housing boom created a massive pull forward across the home-buying market. The market also benefited from a buyer-friendly low mortgage rate environment.

The housing market has cooled significantly since then as home prices and mortgage rates soared.

Taylor Morrison is projected to see its revenue fall 2.4% in 2025 and then fade 6.5% next year. Its adjusted earnings are expected to drop 5.5% and 12.5%, respectively.

The company’s earnings estimate has dropped 21% for Q4 since its last report and 13% for 2026. TMHC’s downbeat earnings revisions earn it a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) and extend its downward run that began in late 2024.

That said, the homebuilder’s long-term outlook likely remains firmly intact given the dire need for more housing inventory in the U.S. “Encouragingly, net absorption paces improved each month during the quarter, in contrast to typical seasonal slowing into the end of summer as the improvement in mortgage interest rates helped spur activity,” CEO Sheryl Palmer said in prepared Q3 remarks in October.

“Going forward, we believe strengthened consumer confidence is critical to further stabilizing demand, especially for discretionary home purchase decisions in our move-up and resort lifestyle communities.”

In the near term, persistently high mortgage rates could continue to suppress demand, leading to slower home sales, increased cancellations, and pressure on margins if TMHC is forced to rely more on incentives to move inventory.

Taylor Morrison doesn’t pay a dividend, and its Building Products - Home Builders industry is in the bottom 10% of 240 Zacks industries. This is worth stressing since studies have shown that roughly half of a stock's price movement can be attributed to a stock's industry group.

Investors might want to stay away from Taylor Morrison for now since the housing market remains under stress.

Additional content:

Micron's Blowout Earnings: The Best AI Stock for 2026?

As 2026 draws closer, investors are actively seeking stocks poised to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. Micron Technology, Inc. stands out given its recent strong quarterly results. So, does the stock offer an attractive buying opportunity for the year ahead?

Let’s see in detail –  

Micron's Blowout Earnings Highlight AI-Driven Growth 

Micron recently reported strong fiscal first-quarter 2026 results, reassuring investors that demand for its products has strengthened significantly. Micron's revenues for the quarter came in at $13. 64 billion, up 56.8% from the same period a year ago, according to investors. micron.com. Wall Street analysts had expected Micron's sales to come in around $ 12.88 billion.  

On a year-over-year basis, all four of Micron's business segments posted revenue growth, led by its core cloud memory business unit, which reported sales of $5.28 billion, up a whopping 99.5%. This robust performance helped boost Micron's profitability, with non-GAAP net income reaching $5.48???billion, or $4.78 per diluted share, well above analysts’ expectations of $3.94. 

Soaring demand for Micron's high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips has been a major driver of the company's stellar quarterly performance. HBM chips, which enable high-speed data processing and reduce power consumption, remain in short supply due to the AI infrastructure boom, which is why they are in high demand.  

Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron's CEO, said that “the growth in AI data center capacity is driving a significant increase in demand for high-performance and high-capacity memory and storage.” He noted that demand for server units has risen significantly and is expected to remain strong through 2026. 

Micron expects even stronger results in fiscal second-quarter 2026, with revenues projected between $18.3 billion and $19.1 billion, and diluted earnings per share (EPS) ranging from $8.22 to $8.62. The company already reported a record free cash flow of $3.9 billion in fiscal first-quarter 2026, providing ample funds to support future growth initiatives. 

Micron's Record Earnings Make It a Leading AI Stock for 2026 

Rising AI-driven demand for Micron's HBM chips has not only helped the company deliver a strong quarter but is also expected to drive the company's growth momentum further into 2026. This positions Micron as one of the most compelling AI stocks to buy for 2026.  

Lest we forget, Micron supplies HBM chips to NVIDIA Corporation as well as to its rival Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., ensuring strong demand for its products even if NVIDIA's competitive edge weakens. Thus, Micron's expected earnings growth rate for the next year is 23.9%. The company's $19.85 Zacks Consensus Estimate for EPS is up 80.9% year over year.

Micron currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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