Tuesday, July 20, 2021

The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), PayPal Holdings (PYPL) and Procter & Gamble (PG). These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.

You can see all of today’s research reports here >>>

Shares of Berkshire Hathaway have outperformed the Zacks Insurance - Property and Casualty industry over the past year (+41.8% vs. +29.9%). The Zacks analyst believes that a strong cash position not only reflects on its financial flexibility but also supports earnings-accretive bolt-on buyouts.

Berkshire has also been gaining from a continuous growth in its insurance business which in turn has been driving earnings and generating maximum return on equity. The non-insurance businesses have also been delivering improved results with increased revenues over the past few years. Exposure to catastrophe loss, however, induces earnings volatility and also affects the property and casualty underwriting results of Berkshire.

(You can read the full research report on Berkshire Hathaway here >>>)

PayPal shares have gained +18.6% over the last six months against the Zacks Internet Software industry’s loss of -10.2%. The Zacks analyst believes that PayPal has been benefiting from robust growth in total payments volume on the back of increasing net new active accounts.

Venmo’s improving monetization efforts and rising adoption rate across various platforms have been aiding the total active accounts growth. Solid momentum of core peer to peer and PayPal Checkout experiences remains a tailwind. Increasing credit loss reserves owing to macroeconomic projections due to the pandemic is a major concern. Intensifying digital payment competition is another concern for the company.

(You can read the full research report on PayPal here >>>)

Shares of Procter & Gamble have gained +3.7% in the past three months against the Zacks Soap and Cleaning Materials industry’s gain of +2.9%. The Zacks analyst believes that the company gained significantly from the increased consumer demand for its hand soaps, detergents and surface cleaning products during the pandemic.

While it has reported earnings surprise for the past several quarters, revenues topped estimates for the fourth straight time in the fiscal third-quarter. Productivity savings and higher pricing aided margins, while strength across all segments boosted sales in the quarter. Currency headwinds and pandemic-related disruptions, however, are likely to impact its fiscal 2021 results.

(You can read the full research report on Procter & Gamble here >>>)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Adobe (ADBE), Sanofi (SNY) and Caterpillar (CAT).

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

Note: Sheraz Mian heads the Zacks Equity Research department and is a well-regarded expert of aggregate earnings. He is frequently quoted in the print and electronic media and publishes the weekly Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview reports. If you want an email notification each time Sheraz publishes a new article, please click here>>>