Monday, March 22, 2021

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 Amazon.com (AMZN), Visa (V), and Medtronic (MDT). 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 >>>

Amazon shares have underperformed the broader market over the past year (+63.9% vs. +76.6%), though the stock has lagged lately has interest rates have gone up. The Zacks analyst believes that Amazon is gaining on solid Prime momentum owing to ultrafast delivery services and expanding content portfolio.

Further, coronavirus-led spike in online orders continues to be a major tailwind. Also, solid growth in its online stores sales remains a positive. Moreover, surge in online grocery shopping is another positive. Additionally, strong adoption rate of AWS is aiding the company’s cloud dominance.

Further, improving Alexa skills and expanding smart home products portfolio are positives. However, accelerating coronavirus related expenses remain risks for the company’s margin expansion in the near term. Also, rising cloud competition poses risk.

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

Visa shares have gained +7.2% over the last six months against the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry’s gain of +2.5%. The Zacks analyst believes that numerous acquisitions and alliances paved the way for long-term growth and consistently drove revenues for the company.

Shift in payments to the digital modes is a boon too. The acquisition of Visa Europe is a strategic fit as well. The coronavirus vaccine development and the gradual revival of consumer confidence will drive spending, expanding the company's business volumes in turn.

Ramped-up client initiatives will dent the top line. Also, a sluggish cross-border business due to coronavirus looms on.

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

Shares of Medtronic have gained +2.4% in the past three months against the Zacks Medical Products industry’s gain of +3.7%. The Zacks analyst believes that all major business groups have been contributing to consistent revenue growth at CER, which highlights sustainability across groups and regions.

Meanwhile, Respiratory, Gastrointestinal, & Renal as well as Specialty Therapies, Neuromodulation and Diabetes Group registered year-over-year growth on an organic basis in the third-quarter fiscal 2021.

However, performance of the rest of the business segments deteriorated. The company’s performance was primarily impacted by deferred procedures due to the pandemic during December and January.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include SAP SE (SAP), American Express (AXP) and Mondelez International (MDLZ).

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Sheraz Mian

Director of Research

Note: Sheraz Mian heads the Zacks Equity Research department and is a well-regarded expert of aggregate earnings. He is frequently quoted in the print and electronic media and publishes the weekly Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview reports. If you want an email notification each time Sheraz publishes a new article, please click here>>>