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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Charter Communications, Mondelez, Halliburton, JetBlue, ONEOK and Fujifilm

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – March 15, 2018 – 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 Charter Communications (CHTR - Free Report) , Mondelez (MDLZ - Free Report) , Halliburton (HAL - Free Report) , JetBlue (JBLU - Free Report) , ONEOK (OKE - Free Report) and Fujifilm (FUJIY - Free Report) .

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Stock Reports for Charter, Halliburton and Mondelez

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 Charter Communications, Mondelez and Halliburton. 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 >>>

Charter Communications’ shares have outperformed the Zacks Cable TV industry over the past three months (+8.6% vs. -4.3%). Moreover, the Zacks analyst likes the company’s wireless venture, along with plans to offer its wireless service in 2018. The company’s residential and commercial internet and voice customer growth continues to accelerate, evident from the revenue growth and subscriber gains.

Further, despite cord-cutting, the company reported a net gain of 15,000 video, 300,000 Internet and 53,000 voice customers in fourth-quarter of 2017. However, Charter's operations in a saturated and competitive multi-channel U.S. video market is a worry. The company continues to face stiff competition from online TV streaming service providers. The company's high debt level and consolidation-related woes are other potential hazards.

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

Shares of Mondelez have lost -1.2% in the last one year, outperforming the -11% decline of the Zacks Food Preparation industry. Mondelez reported fourth-quarter 2017 results, with earnings beating expectations and revenues meeting the same. Adjusted earnings grew 21%, primarily driven by operating gains. Net revenues increased 2.9% year over year, courtesy of the Power Brands and favorable trends in emerging markets. Emerging markets’ net revenues rose 6.3%, while Power Brands witnessed a 3.7% rise.

Regionally, Latin America, Asia, Middle East & Africa and Europe registered an increase of 4.2%, 2.6% and 5% in revenues, respectively. However, North America’s revenues declined 0.6%. Adjusted operating margin expanded 180 basis points year over year on lower overhead costs owing to continued cost reduction.

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

Halliburton’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Oil & Gas Field Services industry over the past six months (up +9% vs. -2.9%). This price performance is backed by phenomenal earnings surprise history, with HAL having surpassed expectations in all the trailing 14 quarters. The world’s No. 2 oilfield-services provider's consistently strong numbers could be attributed to improved utilization and pricing gains in North America.

Of late, HAL has also been aided by margin expansion at its drilling and evaluation product lines, while the international market continues to improve. However, cost inflation triggered by increased fracking sand pricing is likely to dampen investor confidence. Moreover, with the failure of BHI acquisition, HAL had to book a massive $3.5 billion in breakup charges that stretched its balance sheet. Hence, the Zacks analyst advises investors to wait for a better entry point before buying shares of HAL.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include JetBlue, ONEOK and Fujifilm.

Breaking News: Cryptocurrencies Now Bigger than Visa

The total market cap of all cryptos recently surpassed $700 billion – more than a 3,800% increase in the previous 12 months. They’re now bigger than Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and even Visa! The new asset class may expand even more rapidly in 2018 as new investors continue pouring in and Wall Street becomes increasingly involved.

Zacks’ has just named 4 companies that enable investors to take advantage of the explosive growth of cryptocurrencies via the stock market.

Click here to access these stocks. >>

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1 Stock of the Day pick for free.

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 nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% 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 https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.