Thursday, February 11, 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 Oracle (ORCL), Medtronic (MDT) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). 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 >>>

Oracle shares have underperformed the Zacks Computer Software industry over the past year (+13.1% vs. +28.4%). The Zacks analyst believes that Oracle is well-positioned to benefit from momentum seen in cloud business on the back of solid adoption of data cloud solutions, ERP and Autonomous Database offerings.

Furthermore, strong uptake of cloud-based solutions, comprising NetSuite ERP, Fusion ERP and Fusion HCM, aided revenue growth. Solid demand for the Oracle Dedicated Region Cloud@Customer supported by ML is anticipated to drive the top line.

However, rise in spend on product enhancements amid intensifying competition in the cloud market is likely to limit margin expansion.

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

Shares of Medtronic have gained +16% in the last six months against the Zacks Medical Products industry’s gain of +17.6%. The Zacks analyst believes that all major business groups of the company have been contributing to consistent revenue growth at CER, which highlightes sustainability across groups and regions.

Barring Respiratory, Gastrointestinal, & Renal as well as Specialty Therapies, there were declining performance in rest of the business. Escalating costs and expenses put pressure on its margins. Unfavorable currency movement once again deterred growth in the quarter.

However, the company reported sequential improvement in all of its businesses and geographies leading to faster-than-expected recovery. Medtronic is currently in the process of implementing its new operating model. The company is focusing on the geographical diversification of its businesses, apart from product innovation. 

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

AMD shares have gained +12.8% over the past three months against the Zacks Electronics - Semiconductors industry’s rise of +28.7%. The Zacks analyst believes that the company is witnessing robust uptake of its Ryzen and EPYC server processors, courtesy of increasing proliferation of AI and Machine Learning (ML) in industries like cloud gaming and supercomputing domain.

Further, the Xilinx acquisition will boost AMD's data center business. Growing clout of 7 nanometer (nm) products in the data center vertical, driven by work-from-home and online learning trends, is a key catalyst. The company also provided encouraging revenue guidance for 2021, on the back of growth across board.

Nevertheless, increasing investments on product development amid intense competition from NVIDIA and Intel are likely to dent margins at least in the near term.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), McKesson (MCK) and First Republic Bank (FRC).

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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>>>