Thursday, March 19, 2020

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 Walmart (WMT), NVIDIA (NVDA) and AstraZeneca (AZN). 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 >>>

Walmart’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Supermarkets industry over the past six months (+6.9% vs. +5.4%). The Zacks analyst believes that the company’s e-commerce sales surged on robust online grocery performance.

The company’s focus on strengthening e-commerce and store operations ha helped it retain its sturdy comps trend in fourth-quarter fiscal 2019, wherein U.S. comps rose for the 22nd straight time. Further, e-commerce sales surged on robust online grocery performance. Management expects e-commerce sales to rise nearly 30% in fiscal 2021, wherein International sales are likely to grow 4%.

However, Walmart’s earnings broke its positive surprise trend and fell year over year in the quarter due to higher cost of sales and increased operating, selling, general and administrative expenses. Additionally, disruption in Chile and a legal matter affected the bottom line. Further, the gross margin remained soft due to pricing and growing e-commerce mix.

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

Shares of NVIDIA have gained 19% over the past year against the Zacks General Semiconductor industry’s fall of -3.8%. The Zacks analyst believes that NVIDIA is benefiting from strong growth in GeForce desktop and notebook GPUs, which is boosting gaming revenues.

Moreover, an increase in Hyperscale demand remains a tailwind for the Data Center business. Further, the solid uptake of AI-based smart cockpit infotainment solutions is a boon. Additionally, strength across desktop workstation products is aiding Professional Visualization revenues.

However, in the near term, management expects a $100-million negative impact of the coronavirus menace on revenues. Moreover, the U.S.-China trade war remains a key concern. Also, lower demand for notebook workstations might be a near-term hindrance.

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

AstraZeneca’s shares have lost -22.4% over the past three months against the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry’s fall of -15.8%. The Zacks analyst believes that AstraZeneca’s core products like Nexium, Crestor and Seroquel are facing generic competition, which is hurting sales.

Its diabetes franchise also faces stiff competition while pricing pressure is hurting sales in the respiratory unit. Also, the coronavirus outbreak may hurt its profits in 2020. Nonetheless, AstraZeneca’s newer drugs, mainly cancer medicines Lynparza, Tagrisso and Imfinzi, should keep driving revenues in 2020.

Its pipeline is strong with abundance of pipeline catalysts lined up for 2020. Several launches are underway across each of the therapeutic areas, Oncology, CV metabolism and Respiratory. Cost-cutting efforts should drive earnings.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Goldman Sachs (GS), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Global Payments (GPN).

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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>>>