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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: UnitedHealth, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Texas Instruments and Discover Financial.

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 23, 2017 – 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 includeUnitedHealth, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Texas Instruments and Discover Financial.

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Research Reports for UnitedHealth, Goldman Sachs 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 16 major stocks, including UnitedHealth, Goldman Sachs 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 >>>

Buy-rated UnitedHealth’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Medical Insurance industry in the last six months (up +19.7% vs. +19.2%). UnitedHealth Group’s third-quarter earnings beat expectations and grew year over year.

The Zacks analyst likes the company’s robust Government business and continued strong performance at Optum. International business and strong capital position are its other positives. UnitedHealth has been witnessing an increase in membership for the past several years.

On the back of its impressive earnings in the first nine months, the company raised its 2017 guidance. It has reduced exposure to the troubled public exchange business. Though this move will shield it from losses in this business, premium revenues are likely to be affected. Charges related to the Penn Treaty are other causes of concern.

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

Shares of Buy-rated Goldman Sachs have gained 39.1% over the last one year, outperforming the +36.1% gain of the Zacks Investment Bank industry. Goldman Sachs has surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the trailing four quarters.

Goldman’s third-quarter 2017 results surpassed expectations. Results reflected higher revenues on continued momentum in investment banking business, partially offset by lower fixed-income trading activities and elevated expenses.

Though several issues, including sluggish global economic growth and lower client activity levels, remain near-to-medium-term headwinds, the Zacks analyst thinks the company’s well-diversified business and its ability to capitalize on growth opportunities through strategic moves should continue to bolster the overall business.

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

Buy-rated Morgan Stanley’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Investment Bank industry, over the last six months (+20.3% vs. +15.3%). This performance was supported by the company’s impressive earnings surprise history. The company’s third-quarter 2017 results benefited from improvement in investment banking and stable equity trading income while slump in fixed income trading, fall in net interest income and higher in operating expenses were the undermining factors.

The Zacks analyst likes the company’s efforts to lower balance sheet risk and strengthen wealth management operations as well as its cost saving initiatives (Project Streamline) all of which should further support profitability. However, a continued fall in net interest income and overall trading woes are expected to hurt the company’s bottom-line growth in the near term.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Texas Instruments and Discover Financial.

Wall Street’s Next Amazon

Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.

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About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has more than doubled the market from 1988 through 2016. Its average gain has been a stellar +25% per year.See these high-potential stocks free >>.

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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 http://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.