Thursday, March 18, 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 Novo Nordisk (NVO), NextEra Energy (NEE), and 3M Company (MMM). 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 >>>

Novo Nordisk shares have outperformed the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceutical industry over the past year (+37.2% vs. +24.6%). The Zacks analyst believes that drugs like Victoza, Ozempic, Xultophy and Saxenda have been helping the company maintain momentum. Label expansion of existing drugs will further boost sales.

Novo Nordisk beat both sales and earnings estimates for the fourth quarter of 2020. Ozempic is off to a solid start and the launch of Rybelsus looks impressive. Novo Nordisk has one of the broadest diabetes portfolios in the industry.

In 2021, the company will keep focusing on commercial execution, while conducting more late-stage clinical studies than ever to meet the needs of the people living with diabetes and other serious chronic diseases.

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

NextEra Energy shares have gained +2.4% over the last six months against the Zacks Electric Power industry’s gain of +8.5%. The Zacks analyst believes that a well-chalked capital investment plan, natural gas pipeline projects, robust renewable backlog, addition of renewable generation assets, acquisitions and adequate liquidity will boost its performance.

The company carried strategic acquisitions and its capital growth projects amid this crisis, and has ample liquidity to meet its current debt obligations. However, its nature of business is subject to complex and comprehensive federal, state, as well as other regulations.

If the planned nuclear plant outages last longer or an unplanned outage occurs, the company’s operations and profitability might be hampered.

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

Shares of 3M Company have gained +8.7% in the past three months against the Zacks Diversified Operations industry’s gain of +5.4%. The Zacks analyst believes that the company is well-positioned to benefit from its solid product portfolio, restructuring actions, inorganic actions and shareholder-friendly policies.

Demand is expected to be high in various end markets, including personal safety, home improvement and others. For 2021, the company expects adjusted earnings of $9.20-$9.70 and year-over-year sales growth of 5-8%.

However, the impacts of 2020 headwinds, raw material prices and divestitures are expected to hurt earnings in 2021. Also, woes related to huge debts and international exposure as well as expenses related to research and development, and restructuring charges might be concerning.

(You can read the full research report on 3M Company here >>>)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Sanofi (SNY), General Motors (GM) and U.S. Bancorp (USB).

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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>>>