Monday, May 1, 2023

The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 12 major stocks, including Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), The Cigna Group (CI) and Moderna, Inc. (MRNA). 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 >>>

Shares of AMD have outperformed the Zacks Electronics - Semiconductors industry over the past six months (+52.4% vs. +34.9%). The Zacks analyst believes that the company is benefiting from strong product portfolio and acquisitions including Xilinx and Pensando, which has diversified its business.

Robust adoption of EPYC processors by North American hyperscalers has been a tailwind. It is also expected that AMD’s embedded segment will continue to grow in the first-quarter of 2023.

However, keeping in with seasonality, the company’s client and gaming segment is expected to decline. Data Center segment revenues are also expected to decline due to high levels of inventory maintained with some cloud customers.

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

Cigna’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Insurance – Multi line industry over the past year (+2.9% vs. -9.1%). The Zacks analyst believes that acquisitions, superior operating performance and maintenance of a high-quality product portfolio have aided the company in the past few years.

Rise in membership on the back of a diversified product portfolio, a wide agent network and superior service also are major positives. Business streamlining by divesting non-core businesses have helped it to focus on core growth areas.

However, high leverage can affect Cigna’s financial flexibility. Also, rising operating costs might dent the company's margins. This is one stock which warrants a cautious stance.

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

Shares of Moderna have declined -6.5% over the past year against the Zacks Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry's decline of -7.1%. Per the Zacks analyst, lower cases of COVID-19 infections have fueled uncertainty regarding demand for vaccinations, resulting in declining product sales. Also, the launch of similar vaccines by competitors like Sanofi and Novavax will likely lead to further loss of product sales.

However, since the company is one of the first-ever COVID vaccine developers, the robust product sales has continued to drive its topline. This in turn has helped in the development of Moderna’s other promising pipelines, namely, RSV, CMV and influenza vaccines.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Parker-Hannifin Corp. (PH), HubSpot, Inc. (HUBS) and Rollins, Inc. (ROL).

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

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>>>