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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Johnson & Johnson, NIKE, Morgan Stanley, Deere & Co and ViacomCBS

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – March 30, 2021 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) , NIKE, Inc. (NKE - Free Report) , Morgan Stanley (MS - Free Report) , Deere & Company (DE - Free Report) and ViacomCBS Inc. .

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Analyst Reports for Johnson & Johnson, Nike and Morgan Stanley

The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 12 major stocks, including Johnson & Johnson, Nike and Morgan Stanley. 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 >>>

Johnson & Johnson shares have outperformed the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry over the past year (+31.5% vs. +20.3%). The Zacks analyst believes that J&J's diversification makes it relatively resilient amid macroeconomic turmoil. The Pharma unit is performing at above-market levels, supported by successful label expansion of blockbuster drugs, Imbruvica, Darzalex and Stelara. Meanwhile, its Consumer Health unit also performed above-market in 2020 while the Medical Devices segment demonstrated a strong second-half recovery.

J&J is also making rapid progress with its pipeline and line extensions. However, headwinds like generic competition and pricing pressure continue. J&J faces numerous lawsuits, which allege personal injuries to patients caused by the use of its products. These lawsuits have resulted in uncertainties.

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

Nike shares have underperformed the Zacks Shoes and Retail Apparel industry in the past six months (+3.5% vs. +7.0%). The Zacks analyst believes that the company has been witnessing lower revenues at the wholesale business and Nike-owned stores due to the pandemic-led disruptions. Apparently, revenues lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate in third-quarter fiscal 2021. In fact, revenues declined across all the regions, except for Greater China.

Nonetheless, the top and bottom-line improved year over year in the third quarter, while earnings beat estimates for the third time. Impressively, digital sales of the Nike brand improved double digits across North America, Greater China, and APLA along with triple-digit growth in EMEA.

Despite the uncertainty regarding the impacts of the pandemic, management is confident of its earlier-stated fiscal 2021 view. It continues to anticipate low to mid-teens revenue growth for fiscal 2021.

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

Morgan Stanley shares have outperformed the Zacks Financial - Investment Bank industry over the past year (+135.6% vs. +110.7%). The Zacks analyst believes that the company's planned acquisition of Eaton Vance and the buyout of E*Trade Financial are in sync with the company's efforts to focus less on capital markets driven sources. These efforts, along with increasing focus on corporate lending, are likely to support financials, going forward.

Although steadily increasing operating expenses, low rates and its significant dependence on capital-markets driven revenues make us apprehensive, a strong balance sheet is likely to support growth in the upcoming quarters. Further, the company's robust capital deployments reflect solid liquidity position and will continue enhancing shareholder value.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Deere & Co. and ViacomCBS.

These Stocks Are Poised to Soar Past the Pandemic

The COVID-19 outbreak has shifted consumer behavior dramatically, and a handful of high-tech companies have stepped up to keep America running. Right now, investors in these companies have a shot at serious profits. For example, Zoom jumped 108.5% in less than 4 months while most other stocks were sinking.

Our research shows that 5 cutting-edge stocks could skyrocket from the exponential increase in demand for "stay at home" technologies. This could be one of the biggest buying opportunities of this decade, especially for those who get in early.

See the 5 high-tech stocks now>>

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.


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Morgan Stanley (MS) - free report >>

NIKE, Inc. (NKE) - free report >>

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - free report >>

Deere & Company (DE) - free report >>

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