Friday, May 3, 2019

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 Pfizer (PFE), Intel (INTC) and HCA Healthcare (HCA). 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 >>>

Pfizer’s shares have underperformed the Zacks Large-Cap Pharmaceuticals industry in the past six months (-5.7% vs. -1%). Pfizer beat estimates for earnings and sales in the first quarter. Pfizer expects continued strong growth of key product franchises, including Ibrance, Eliquis, and Xeljanz in 2019.

However, The Zacks analyst thinks loss of exclusivity on key drugs in the United States, mainly Lyrica and currency headwinds will likely significantly hurt 2019 sales. Other top-line headwinds are weak sales in the sterile injectables portfolio, pricing pressure and rising competition.

To offset the threat of generic competition, Pfizer is strengthening its pipeline as well as oncology portfolio. Pfizer looks well positioned to deliver several potential new breakthrough innovative medicines in the next five years, which can drive long-term growth. Biosimilars are also expected to contribute to growth in 2019.

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

Shares of Intel have outperformed the Zacks General Semiconductor industry in the past year, losing -4.3% vs. a decline of -7.4%. Intel reported stellar first-quarter results. Rising demand witnessed in company’s higher performance products, both in data center and client domains acted as a catalyst.

The Zacks analyst thinks the company is benefiting from robust performance of the DCG, IoT Group, NVM Solutions and PSG. The company’s strategy of expanding TAM beyond CPU to adjacent product lines like silicon photonics, fabric, network ASICs, and 3D XPoint memory is bearing fruit. However, a declining trend in PC shipments is detrimental to business prospects of Intel, which continues to depend substantially on PC sales.

Further, the company provided a tepid forthcoming outlook. Weaknesses in demand from China, softness in NAND flash pricing trends, delay in transition to 10-nm process are other concerns. Moreover, intensifying competition remains a headwind.

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

Buy-Ranked HCA Healthcare’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Hospital industry in the past year, gaining +28.7% vs. +13.1%. HCA Healthcare’s first-quarter 2019 beat expectations and increased year over year on the back of higher admissions and revenues.

The Zacks analyst thinks its top line has been growing over the last several quarters on higher admissions, volume growth, etc. Multiple acquisitions helped the company gain a strong foothold in the industry, fueling its inorganic growth.

A strong balance sheet and free cash flow are other positives for the company. However, high operating expenses are persistently weighing on its margins. The company is expected to witness a rise in costs due to its constant growth-related investments. Its high leverage is another concern.

(You can read the full research report on HCA Healthcare here >>>).

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Activision (ATVI), Xilinx (XLNX) and Cummins (CMI).

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Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

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>>>