Thursday, May 12, 2022

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 Amgen Inc. (AMGN), Altria Group, Inc. (MO), and Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER). 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 Amgen have outperformed the Zacks Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry in the year-to-date period (+7.9% vs. -28.4%) on the back of the company's rapidly advancing pipeline of early and late-stage assets. Several phase III readouts are due in 2022. Lumakras, a first-in-class lung cancer treatment, is off to an excellent start while its label expansion studies are progressing rapidly. Amgen also boasts a strong biosimilars portfolio.
 

While Amgen’s key drugs like Prolia, Repatha, Xgeva and biosimilars are driving sales, increasing competition for its legacy products is hurting the same along with pricing and competitive pressure are impacting many of its’s products and franchises. Several of Amgen’s marketed drugs are facing increased pricing headwinds and continued COVID-19 headwinds.
 

(You can read the full research report on Amgen here >>>)
 
Shares of Altria Group have modestly outperformed the Zacks Tobacco industry over the past year (+10.8% vs. +10.4%) but have done significantly better than the broader market given the stock's solid defensive attributes.

The Zacks analyst believes that the company is gaining from strong pricing as came through in the last quarterly report when higher pricing across the Smokeable and Oral Tobacco segments aided performance. Higher pricing contributed to adjusted company’s operating income across the Smokeable unit. The company has been undertaking measures to expand in the oral tobacco space. In particular, it has been gaining from the growth in on! oral nicotine pouches.
 

However, Altria continues to assess the macroeconomic impacts of the pandemic on adult tobacco consumers, such as stay-at-home practices and disposable income. The company also continues to assess the impacts of any supply-chain or distribution-related disruption.
 

(You can read the full research report on Altria Group here >>>)
 
Uber shares have declined -46.2% in the year-to-date period against the Zacks Internet - Services industry’s decline of -25.5%, reflectging the negative market sentiment on profitless operators like Uber. The Zacks analyst believes that there remains uncertainty over Uber’s Mobility operations. Nevertheless, the company’s measures to expand its delivery operations through successive acquisitions are encouraging. To this end, the buyout of Drizly is noteworthy.
 

Continued recovery in Mobility operations is aiding the company. Strong segmental performances are leading to continued improvement in Uber’s adjusted EBITDA. Moreover, with free cash flow approaching break even, the company expects positive free cash flow for the full year.
 

(You can read the full research report on Uber here >>>)
 
Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include The Williams Companies, Inc. (WMB), Microchip Technology Incorporated (MCHP), and Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET).

Sheraz Mian
 
Director of Research
 

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>>>