Zacks Equity Research has designated Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE: PWR) as its Bull of the Day and lululemon athletica inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) as its Bear of the Day in its latest analysis.
Quanta Services has more than doubled both its revenue and its GAAP and adjusted earnings per share between 2021 and 2025, riding the AI energy infrastructure boom.
The Houston-based company closed the first quarter of 2026 with a record backlog of $48.5 billion, reflecting surging demand across utility, generation, and large-load markets.
Management confirmed it is on a “clear path to more than doubling” its adjusted EPS by 2030 versus its 2025 levels, targeting a total addressable market of $2.4 trillion through that year.
CEO Duke Austin credited the company’s “compounding model” and its “unique positioning at the center of converging utility, generation and large-load markets” as the foundation of its long-term growth outlook.
PWR is projected to grow revenue by 22% in 2026 and another 13% in 2027, reaching $38.95 billion, while adjusted EPS is forecast to rise 30% this year and 18% next year to $16.38 per share.
The stock has surged roughly 88% over the past year and is up approximately 640% over the past five years, outperforming the S&P 500, Meta, and Microsoft across both periods.
Quanta also announced a new $1 billion share repurchase program in late May, backed by a sturdy balance sheet and free cash flow growth of 55% in Q1 to $184 million.
Strong upward earnings revisions have earned PWR a Zacks Rank No. 1, designated as a Strong Buy, making it one of the research firm’s highest-conviction ideas.
On the other side of the ledger, lululemon is facing a deepening earnings downgrade cycle, with its Q2 estimate falling roughly 27% following its June 4 quarterly report, while FY26 and FY27 estimates dropped 8% and 9%, respectively.
Americas comparable sales declined 3% in fiscal 2025 and then worsened to a 5% year-over-year drop in the first quarter of FY26, reflecting mounting pressure in its most critical market.
Revenue growth has collapsed from an average of 23% between 2018 and 2023 to just 5% in FY25, which marked the company’s lowest ever year-over-year sales expansion as a public company.
Rivals including Alo, Vuori, and numerous online-only startups are eating into LULU’s market share, while broader fashion trends appear to be moving away from the brand’s core product offerings.
LULU’s adjusted earnings are expected to fall 14% year-over-year in FY26, and the stock has dropped roughly 50% over the past year as part of a nearly 75% decline from its early 2024 peaks.
The selloff has pushed LULU to its lowest-ever forward earnings multiple at 9.4 times forward 12-month EPS, a level that may attract value-oriented investors willing to wait for evidence of a genuine turnaround.
Zacks also highlighted Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG), noting that shares have surged 120% in the past year, driven by a 22% year-over-year revenue increase in Q1 2026 and a 345% surge in electrolyzer product line revenues.
PLUG secured a contract last month to supply 30 MW of GenEco PEM electrolyzers for an industrial hydrogen production plant in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and in April received a FEED contract from Hy2gen Canada to deliver a 275 MW electrolyzer system for its “Courant” project.
Despite the progress, Plug Power recorded a gross margin of negative 13% in Q1 2026 and an operating cash outflow of $150 million, keeping the stock at a Zacks Rank No. 3, designated as Hold.
Zacks also reviewed FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) and Flux Power Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLUX), which returned 156.5% and declined 41.6%, respectively, over the same one-year period as PLUG’s surge.
