Monday, March 25, 2024

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 Lam Research Corporation (LRCX), PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) and Trane Technologies plc (TT). 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 >>>

Lam Research shares have handily outperformed the Zacks Semiconductor Equipment - Wafer Fabrication industry over the past year (+95.9% vs. +65.2%) as well as the broader Zacks Tech sector (+95.9% vs. +48.3%) over the same time period. The company is benefiting from strength across 3D DRAM and advanced packaging technologies. Growing etch and deposition intensity owing to increasing technology inflections in 3D architectures, is a positive.

However, weakness in the systems business, primarily due to sluggish memory spending, is a major concern. Although sluggish wafer fabrication equipment spending remains a concern, improvement in the outlook for the same owing to modest memory recovery, is a positive.

For 2024, WFE spending is expected to be in the mid-high $80 billion range. NAND is expected to benefit from technology upgrades, while DRAM is likely to benefit from node conversions and capacity additions in HBM. Meanwhile, Lam Research's leading-edge investments are likely to benefit Foundry/Logic category.

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

PayPal shares have lagged the Zacks Internet - Software industry over the past year (-10% vs. +67.6%) on the back of growth uncertainty and greater competitive challenges in the space. That said, the company should benefit from robust growth in total payments volume. Further, strengthening customer engagement on the company’s platform is a major positive.

Furthermore, Venmo’s improving monetization efforts and rising adoption rate across various platforms are aiding the total active accounts growth. Additionally, solid momentum of core peer to peer and PayPal Checkout experiences is a tailwind. Also, well-performing merchant services are positives. The Zacks analyst believes accelerating transaction revenues of PayPal are likely to continue driving revenues.

However, declining active accounts remains a negative for the business. Intensifying competition in the digital payment market poses a serious risk to PayPal’s market position. Also, foreign exchange headwinds remain concerns.

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

Shares of Trane have outperformed the Zacks Technology Services industry over the past year (+67.9% vs. +66.1%). The company remains focused on improving the quality of its products and services and operating efficiencies to achieve sustained improvement in earnings and cash flow.

It prioritizes improving its business operating system and innovation through business transformation initiatives and prudent investments. Trane has a track record of repurchasing shares and paying dividends consistently. Such moves instill investor confidence and positively impact the company's bottom line.

On the flip side, product and service diversity puts Trane in the face of fierce competition in terms of price, quantity, delivery, service, support, technology and innovation. The company’s business remains exposed to seasonality and foreign currency exchange risks.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include American International Group, Inc. (AIG), IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (IDXX) and Halliburton Company (HAL).

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>>>