Tuesday, January 24 2017

Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including American Express (AXP), Time Warner (TWX) and Eli Lilly (LLY).

Buy rated American Express fourth-quarter 2016 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company also continues to witness mounting loan loss provisions. Moreover, a strong U.S. dollar, loss of Costco as a client and intense competition remain major near-term concerns.

The company has raised its guidance for 2017. Additionally, over the last year the company has gained 38.1%, higher than the broader finance sector’s gain of 29.5%. The analyst also likes its solid market position, strength in card business and significant opportunities from the secular shift toward electronic payments.  (You can read the full research report on American Express here.)

Time Warner shares have handily outperformed the broader market as well as the media space (the stock is up more than 38.7% over the last one year) on greater appreciation for the company's proactive strategic initiatives in response to the evolving media landscape. These include investments in digital platforms like the Hulu stake, HBO GO & HBO NOW, the Flixter purchase and the device-agnostic UltraViolet digital movie technology.

In a way, Time Warner has shown its willingness and ability to explore every possible avenue to monetize its substantial content. The fact that it has an impressive track record of earnings surprises and operating and capital efficiencies further add to the Time Warner story. (You can read the full research report on Time Warner here.)

Pharmaceutical stocks have been under pressure since last year on pricing and regulatory concerns in the current political backdrop and Eli Lily shares have been no different. Lilly’s third quarter results were below expectations with earnings and revenues missing estimates, but the analyst is encouraged by the fact that Lilly expects to launch 20 new products in a 10 year time-frame ranging from 2014 to 2023 and could launch at least 2 new indications/line extensions on average every year.

Moreover, Lilly expects to return to annual dividend increases starting Dec 2016 and to return excess cash through share buybacks. Lilly has issued a bullish outlook for 2017 and estimates have moved up lately ahead of the company’s Q4 release. (You can read the full research report on Eli Lilly here.)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Hewlett Packard (HPE), Bank of New York Mellon (BK) Dow Chemical (DOW).

Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2017

In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest tickers for the entirety of 2017?

Who wouldn't? These 10 are painstakingly hand-picked from 4,400 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. They are our primary picks to buy and hold.  Be among the very first to see them >>

Mark Vickery

Senior Editor

Note: Sheraz Mian regularly provides earnings analysis on Zacks.com and appears frequently in the print and electronic media. His weekly earnings related articles include Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview.

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