Monday, June 5, 2023

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 Meta Platforms, Inc. (META), The Boeing Company (BA) and International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). 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 >>>

Meta Platforms shares have outperformed the Zacks Internet - Software industry over the past year (+40.4% vs. +6.0%), as worries about the company's spending plans have markedly eased. Meta continues to benefit from steady user growth across all regions, particularly Asia Pacific. Increased engagement for its offerings like Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Facebook has been a major growth driver.

Meta Platforms is leveraging AI to recommend content which is driving traffic in Instagram and Facebook. Its restructuring plan is expected to reduce expenses driving profitability. However, challenging macroeconomic conditions is negatively impacting Meta’s advertising revenues.

Unfavorable forex, targeting and measurement headwinds due to Apple’s iOS changes are headwinds. Meta’s second-quarter guidance reflects macroeconomic and forex concerns. The company continues to expect Reality Labs operating losses to increase year-over-year in 2023.

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

Shares of Boeing have outperformed the Zacks Aerospace - Defense industry over the past year (+53.2% vs. -3.5%). The company remains the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States, in terms of revenues, orders and deliveries. Lately, the company has been witnessing a solid recovery in its commercial business.

During the first quarter, the company booked 107 net commercial airplane orders. The U.S. government’s inclination toward strengthening the nation’s defense system should also boost Boeing’s growth. The company holds a strong solvency position in the near term.

However, its 737 MAX program remains a cause of concern in China, thereby impacting its expectation of delivery timing and future gradual production rate increases. Boeing continues to incur notable abnormal production cost in relation to production quality issues for 787 jets, which may hurt its future results.

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

Shares of IBM have declined -2.6% over the past year against the Zacks Computer - Integrated Systems industry’s decline of -4.6%. The company is facing declining trends in the infrastructure vertical which is hurting the top-line growth. Intense competition from other established players like Amazon, Microsoft and Google in cloud services is putting pressure on its margins.

A highly-leveraged balance sheet and integration risk due to frequent acquisition are other concerns. However, IBM is witnessing solid net sales growth in the software segment driven by healthy hybrid cloud adoption and solid demand trends across RedHat, automation, data in AI and security.

Strong foundation of research and innovation, a broad portfolio that caters to various industry requirements and diverse global market presence set it apart from its competitors. The company is poised to benefit from the robust adoption and broad-based availability of IBM Blockchain World Wire, a blockchain driven global payments network.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Accenture plc (ACN), Elevance Health, Inc. (ELV) and Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (BUD).

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>>>