Tuesday, December 27, 2022

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 AbbVie Inc. (ABBV), PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) and Oracle Corporation (ORCL). 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 >>>

AbbVie shares have outperformed the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry over the past year (+21.4% vs. +13.0%) reflecting the company's robust drug pipeline. The company has succesfully expanded labels of its cancer drugs, Imbruvica and Venclexta. It has several new drugs in its portfolio, which have the potential to drive revenues once Humira loses U.S. exclusivity in 2023.

Skyrizi and Rinvoq have established outstanding launch trajectories bolstered by the approval in new indications. It has several early/mid-stage candidates that have blockbuster potential. Allergan’s acquisition has diversified AbbVie’s revenue base into new therapeutic areas, enhancing its long-term growth potential.

However, there are concerns about long-term sales growth once Humira generics enter the U.S. market. Increasing competition from newer therapies is hurting Imbruvica’s sales. Slowing consumer demand due to economic pressures is affecting aesthetics franchise sales.

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

Shares of PepsiCo have gained +6.9% over the past year, modestly lagging Coke's +9.5% gain, but handily outperforming the broader market's -21.2% decline. The company’s revenues and earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate and improved year over year in the third quarter. This marked the 17th straight quarter of sales beat.

PepsiCo benefits from the resilience and strength of global beverage and convenient food businesses. It expects to benefit by delivering convenience, variety and value proposition to customers through its brands. It raised its revenue view for 2022.

However, PepsiCo witnessed margin pressures in the third quarter driven by impacts of supply-chain disruptions and inflationary labor, transportation and commodity costs. PEP anticipates incremental input cost inflation for the balance of 2022. Adverse currency rates also remain headwinds.

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

Shares of Oracle have declined -8.8% over the past year against the Zacks Computer - Software industry’s decline of -31.0%. The company is spending high on product enhancements, especially toward the cloud platform, is likely to limit margin expansion. The Zacks analyst expect fiscal 2023 non-GAAP operating expenses to jump 18.3% over fiscal 2022.

Nevertheless, Oracle’s second-quarter fiscal 2023 results benefitted from strength in infrastructure and applications cloud businesses. Solid adoption of cloud-based applications, comprising NetSuite Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Fusion ERP and Fusion Human Capital Management (HCM), bodes well.

Solid demand for the Oracle Dedicated Region Cloud@Customer is anticipated to drive the top line. Oracle expects total cloud growth, including Cerner, to grow from 43% to 47% in USD for the next quarter. Partnerships with Accenture and Microsoft is helping Oracle win new clientele.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Danaher Corporation (DHR), HSBC Holdings plc (HSBC) and The Progressive Corporation (PGR).

Director of Research

Sheraz Mian

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>>>