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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Microsoft, Alphabet, Bank of America, 3M and Suncor
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL –August 28, 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: Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , Bank of America (BAC - Free Report) , 3M (MMM - Free Report) and Suncor Energy (SU - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:
Top Analyst Reports for Microsoft, Alphabet & Bank of America
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 Microsoft, Alphabet and Bank of America. These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.
Buy-rated Microsoft shares have outperformed the Computer Software industry in the year to date period, gaining +26.8% vs. +24%. Microsoft has a dominant position in the desktop PC market, with its operating systems being used in the majority of PCs worldwide. The company is benefiting from growing user base of its different applications like Office 365 commercial, Dynamics, Outlook mobile and Teams.
Moreover, Azure’s expanding customer base is a key catalyst. Microsoft’s gaming segment is performing well, primarily driven by a combination of Xbox Live, Game Pass subscriptions and Mixer, which are driving user engagement. Further, acquisitions like PlayFab and GitHub expand Microsoft’s total addressable market (TAM) and penetration. Additionally, the company’s expanding partner base is a key catalyst. However, projections of a moderating growth rate in commercial cloud gross margin, and OEM Pro and Windows commercial businesses is a headwind.
Alphabet’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Internet Services industry in the last year (the stock is up +33.2% vs. a +3.7% increase for the industry). The company results are driven by robust mobile growth, strong network advertising revenues, cloud, hardware and Play revenues. Alphabet's focus on innovation, AI, cloud, home automation space, strategic acquisitions and Android OS should continue to aid its top-line growth. Further, its partnership with PayPal remains positive.
Also, the company has shown good execution to date, more or less maintaining its dominant share in a competitive, fast-growing search market. However, Alphabet suffers from litigation issues which might hurt its profitability. Moreover, it's increased spending on its consumer gadgets, YouTube video app and cloud computing services remain concerns. In addition, rising competition in the online advertisement market poses serious risk to the company's position.
Bank of America’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Major Regional Banks industry year-to-date, gaining +4.7% vs. +1.3%. Also, the company possesses an impressive earnings surprise history, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters. Rise in loan and deposit balances, interest rates and efforts to manage expenses as well as expand into new markets are likely to support profitability.
Also, lower tax rates, strong balance sheet position and easing of banking regulations will aid growth. However, fall in mortgage banking income due to lower volumes and a decline in refinancing activity along with uncertainty related to performance of capital markets remain major concerns. These are expected to hurt the bank's revenues to some extent.
Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include 3M and Suncor Energy.
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.
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/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Microsoft, Alphabet, Bank of America, 3M and Suncor
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL –August 28, 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: Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , Bank of America (BAC - Free Report) , 3M (MMM - Free Report) and Suncor Energy (SU - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:
Top Analyst Reports for Microsoft, Alphabet & Bank of America
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 Microsoft, Alphabet and Bank of America. These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.
Buy-rated Microsoft shares have outperformed the Computer Software industry in the year to date period, gaining +26.8% vs. +24%. Microsoft has a dominant position in the desktop PC market, with its operating systems being used in the majority of PCs worldwide. The company is benefiting from growing user base of its different applications like Office 365 commercial, Dynamics, Outlook mobile and Teams.
Moreover, Azure’s expanding customer base is a key catalyst. Microsoft’s gaming segment is performing well, primarily driven by a combination of Xbox Live, Game Pass subscriptions and Mixer, which are driving user engagement. Further, acquisitions like PlayFab and GitHub expand Microsoft’s total addressable market (TAM) and penetration. Additionally, the company’s expanding partner base is a key catalyst. However, projections of a moderating growth rate in commercial cloud gross margin, and OEM Pro and Windows commercial businesses is a headwind.
Alphabet’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Internet Services industry in the last year (the stock is up +33.2% vs. a +3.7% increase for the industry). The company results are driven by robust mobile growth, strong network advertising revenues, cloud, hardware and Play revenues. Alphabet's focus on innovation, AI, cloud, home automation space, strategic acquisitions and Android OS should continue to aid its top-line growth. Further, its partnership with PayPal remains positive.
Also, the company has shown good execution to date, more or less maintaining its dominant share in a competitive, fast-growing search market. However, Alphabet suffers from litigation issues which might hurt its profitability. Moreover, it's increased spending on its consumer gadgets, YouTube video app and cloud computing services remain concerns. In addition, rising competition in the online advertisement market poses serious risk to the company's position.
Bank of America’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Major Regional Banks industry year-to-date, gaining +4.7% vs. +1.3%. Also, the company possesses an impressive earnings surprise history, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters. Rise in loan and deposit balances, interest rates and efforts to manage expenses as well as expand into new markets are likely to support profitability.
Also, lower tax rates, strong balance sheet position and easing of banking regulations will aid growth. However, fall in mortgage banking income due to lower volumes and a decline in refinancing activity along with uncertainty related to performance of capital markets remain major concerns. These are expected to hurt the bank's revenues to some extent.
Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include 3M and Suncor Energy.
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.
Click for details >>
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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/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.