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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Apple, Microsoft, Mastercard, Sanofi and Dominion Energy

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 26, 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: Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) , Microsoft Corporation (MSFT - Free Report) , Mastercard Inc (MA - Free Report) , Sanofi (SNY - Free Report) and Dominion Energy (D - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Analyst Reports for Apple, Microsoft and Mastercard

The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features updated research reports on 16 major stocks including Apple Inc., Microsoft Corporation and Mastercard Inc. These reports have been hand-picked from roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.

You can see all of today’s research reports here >>>

Apple’s shares have lost -17.3% in the past six months versus the Zacks Computer - Mini computers industry's decline of -17.5%. Apple is benefiting from robust iPhone average selling price (ASP) as well as strength in the services and wearables segments. The Services segment has become the new cash cow for Apple and is expected to grow strongly, boosted by steadily increasing adoption of Apple Music and Apple Pay.

Moreover, robust demand for wearables is expected to drive top-line growth. Further, Apple’s foray into fast-growing technologies like autonomous vehicle, artificial intelligence (AI) & AR/VR will drive further growth.

Shares of Buy-rated Microsoft have rallied +14.9% year to date, outperforming the Zacks Computer Software industry's +8.2% gain. Microsoft 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.

The company'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). Additionally, expanding partner base is notable.

Buy-rated Mastercard’s have outperformed the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry over the past year (+16.1% vs. +3.1%).  The company is poised for growth, given its solid market position, ongoing expansion and digital initiatives plus significant opportunities from the secular shift toward electronic payments. Its numerous acquisitions have aided revenue growth. The company is gaining from increase in switched transactions, cross-border volume and gross dollar volume from higher spending.

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Sanofi and Dominion Energy.

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.

Click here for the 6 trades >>

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