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Research Daily

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

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 (AMGN), TOTAL (TOT) and Intuit (INTU). 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 >>>

Amgen shares have outperformed the Zacks Biomedical and Genetics industry over the past year (+42.6% vs. +18.9%) and the Zacks analyst expects the momentum to continue on the back of growth products like Prolia, Evenity, Repatha, Aimovig, Otezla and biosimilars that will drive near- to medium-term sales.

Amgen boasts a strong biosimilars portfolio, which can drive long-term growth. Amgen is also progressing with its pipeline while regularly pursuing “external opportunities” such as the acquisition of Otezla and the stake in China's BeiGene. However, pricing and competitive pressure are concerns.

Amgen also expects a significant impact from coronavirus-related business disruption in Q2, which it expects to ease in the second half of 2020. Estimates have gone down slightly ahead of Q2 results. Amgen has a positive record of earnings surprise in the recent quarters.  

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

Shares of TOTAL have lost -28.1% over the past six months against the Zacks Integrated International Oil industry’s fall of -36.8%. The Zacks analyst believes that TOTAL is benefiting from project startups, renewable assets, LNG portfolio and expanding upstream portfolio that has above industry-average exposure to faster-growing hydrocarbon producing regions.

Streamlining the asset portfolio and syncing the same with long-term objectives are likely to boost its performance and strengthen operations. However, the company’s operations and profitability can be adversely impacted by the ongoing decline in commodity prices.

TOTAL decided to lower capital expenditure for 2020 by 25% for preserving liquidity. If commodity prices continue to remain choppy, the company might have to resort to further cost management. TOTAL's operations in some politically-troubled regions and increasing competition might affect profitability.

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

Intuit’s shares have gained +10.8% over the past three months against the Zacks Computer Software industry’s rise of +18.5%. The Zacks analyst believes that Intuit is benefiting from strong momentum in online ecosystem revenues and solid professional tax revenues.

The TurboTax Live offering is also driving growth in the Consumer tax business. Solid momentum in the company’s lending product, QuickBooks Capital, remains a positive. Moreover, Intuit’s strategy of shifting its business to cloud-based subscription model will help generate stable revenues over the long run.

Nonetheless, Intuit’s near-term prospect looks gloomy as the global lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis has affected small businesses, posing risks to the company’s revenue growth. Additionally, higher costs and expenses due to increased investments in engineering and marketing is likely to continue impacting bottom-line results in the near term.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Air Products and Chemicals (APD), Applied Materials (AMAT) and Marsh & McLennan (MMC).

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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>>>

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