Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including IBM (IBM), BlackRock (BLK) and Starbucks (SBUX).

IBM shares have lagged the technology sector as well as the S&P 500 index over the last few years as the company struggled to reposition its business to the evolving business landscape. But the stock has turned around this year, outperforming the tech sector as well as the broader market (up 9.5% year to date vs. 7.8% gain for the Zacks Tech sector) on greater confidence in the company's turnaround. The better than expected Q3 results are one step in that direction. The Zacks analyst likes IBM's strategic growth initiatives, including its Big Data & business analytics, cloud computing, mobile and social business, which are expected to drive growth. In addition, the company’s policy of making strategic acquisitions will lead to incremental revenues. (You can read the full research report on IBM here>>)

BlackRock's Q3 report showed the asset management giant handily beat on the bottom line and additions to assets under management (AUM additions, which ended the quarter at $5.1 trillion. The stock has lagged the broader market this year, but leads the finance sector as well as its asset management peers on the back of its industry-leading franchise, particularly on the ETF side. But it isn't just an ETF powerhouse, with a diversified business mix, ranging from one of the largest fixed income operations in the space to significant presence in equities, alternatives and cash products. The company's size and scope positions it to be a major beneficiary of the new regulations that pushing passive advice at the expense of active.  (You can read the full research report on BlackRock here>>)

Starbucks shares have struggled this year on concerns about the coffee powerhouse's growth outlook that took a hit following the March-quarter results and has never really recovered since then. It will be interesting to see if they can change the narrative when they report September quarter results on November 3rd. These headwinds notwithstanding, the company's operating fundamentals remain strong – solid global retail footprint, successful innovations, best-in-class loyalty program and digital offerings.  (You can read the full research report on Starbucks here>>)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Disney (DIS), Groupon (GRPN) and NVIDIA (NVDA).

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You can find all of today's stock research reports here>>>

Sheraz Mian

Director of Research

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