Tuesday May 23, 2017

Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Oracle (ORCL), Chubb (CB) and AstraZeneca (AZN). You can see all of today’s research reports here >>>

Oracle shares have outperformed the Zacks Technology Sector year-to-date, gaining +16% vs. +14.9%. The company’s offerings in SaaS and PaaS have gained significant momentum in the past few quarters, which improves the company's competitive position in the red hot cloud space, particularly against salesforce.com and Workday. The introduction of Gen 2 IaaS data centers is expected to improve Oracle’s competitive standing against Amazon's AWS business. The Zacks analyst likes the company’s growing cloud market share and sees the positive momentum in this area as a notable top-line growth driver. The recent acquisition of Moat is a significant addition to the Oracle Data Cloud, which will boost ad measurement capability. However, the transition from on-premise licensing to cloud-based subscription business model will take some more time to complete, which will impact near-term results. (You can read the full research report on Oracle here >>>)

Chubb shares have outperformed the Zacks Property, Casualty and Title industry over the last three months, gaining +1% vs. -2.5%. The Zacks analyst thinks Chubb stands a good chance of taking leadership in the P&C space, benefiting from complementary products and services. Its inorganic growth story is impressive and should help it achieve higher long-term ROE. A strong capital position has helped Chubb engage in shareholder-friendly moves and invest in strategic initiatives to drive growth. Notably, the company is on track to achieve annual run-rate integration-related savings of $800 million by the end of 2018. However, exposure to cat loss and escalating expenses are major concerns. (You can read the full research report on Chubb here >>>)

AstraZeneca shares have gained +24.2% year to date, and have outperformed the Zacks Large Cap Pharma sector which has gained +10.2% over the same period, which reflects the company's activities on the acquisition and partnering fronts. Newly launched drugs should keep contributing to the top line and ease the impact of genericization. Meanwhile, cost-cutting initiatives should drive the bottom line. Streamlining operations, along with its focus on R&D, will benefit the company in the long run. The Zacks analyst likes AstraZeneca’s promising late-stage pipeline that includes immuno-oncology candidates. However, core products like Nexium and Crestor are facing generic competition, which is hurting hurt near-term earnings growth. (You can read the full research report on AstraZeneca here >>>)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Express Scripts (ESRX), Estee Lauder (EL) and Aflac (AFL).

Zacks' 2017 IPO Watch List
Before looking into the stocks mentioned above, you may want to get a head start on potential tech IPOs that are popping up on Zacks' radar. Imagine being in the first wave of investors to jump on a company with almost unlimited growth potential? This Special Report gives you the current scoop on 5 that may go public at any time.

One has driven from 0 to a $68 billion valuation in 8 years. Four others are a little less obvious but already show jaw-dropping growth. Download this IPO Watch List today for free >>

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>>>