Thursday, December 11, 2025

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 Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), Shopify Inc. (SHOP) and Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), as well as two micro-cap stocks Waterstone Financial, Inc. (WSBF) and Tucows Inc. (TCX). The Zacks microcap research is unique as our research content on these small and under-the-radar companies is the only research of its type in the country.

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 >>>

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You can read today's AWS here >>> More Good News for Pre-market Trading: Jobless Claims & More

Today's Featured Research Reports

Caterpillar’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry over the past year (+63.5% vs. +61.3%). The company reported year-over-year growth in its third-quarter revenues after six quarters of declines. This improvement was attributed to volume growth in all of its segments. 

However, earnings declined in the quarter due to the impact of tariffs. This will continue through 2025 with the company expecting a $1.6-$1.75 billion impact for the year. The record high backlog of $39.9 billion should support its top line. Going forward, the Construction Industries segment will gain from increased construction activities in the United States and globally. 

Resource Industries will be supported by commodity demand. The Energy & Transportation segment will gain on strong demand across all applications. Caterpillar’s focus on aftermarket parts and service-related revenues (which generate high margins) will aid growth.

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

Shares of Shopify have gained +44.8% over the past year against the Zacks Internet - Services industry’s gain of +62.3%. The company’s prospects are benefiting from an expanding merchant base. New merchant-friendly tools like Shop Minis, Shop Cash, and Sign in with Shop along with Shop Pay solutions is helping SHOP win merchants regularly. 

Shopify’s investment in AI-driven tools, such as Catalog, Universal Cart, and Sidekick, are helping merchants improve customer engagement and streamline operations. Shopify’s expanding international footprint with strong growth in Europe is a key catalyst. A rich partner base is helping SHOP expand its merchant base. Strong free cash flow margin reflects solid liquidity. 

However, Shopify faces gross margin pressure due to higher hosting costs, the three-month paid trial program, and the expanded PayPal partnership, which carries lower margins. Higher operating expenses are expected to hurt margins in the near term.

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

Qualcomm’s shares have gained +16.9% over the past year against the Zacks Electronics - Semiconductors industry’s gain of +79.1%. The company is foraying deeper into the realm of AI capabilities within the laptop and desktop business with the launch of the Snapdragon X chip for mid-range AI desktops and laptops. It is also benefiting from healthy fruition in the automotive business. 

Automakers’ strategy of deploying high-performance, low-power computing and connectivity chips to bring next-generation experiences to consumers is driving demand for the Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform. Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile platforms are also gaining traction. 

However, a shift in the share among OEMs at the premium tier has reduced Qualcomm's near-term opportunity to sell integrated chipsets. Stiff competition in the mobile phone chipset market is also likely to hurt profits in the future. The strained bilateral Sino-US trade relationship clouds its revenue-generating potential.

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

Shares of Waterstone Financial have outperformed the Zacks Financial - Savings and Loan industry over the past year (+18.3% vs. -1.4%). This microcap company with a market capitalization of $309.89 million is seeing core earnings momentum driven by net interest margin expansion (2.76% in Q3 2025 vs. 2.14% YoY), aided by lower borrowing costs and improved funding mix. 

Strong capital ratios (Tier 1 leverage at 19.45%) provide financial resilience and support capital return flexibility. Credit trends improved with a net credit provision release of $0.3 million and stable non-accrual loans (0.35%). Operating efficiency rose as noninterest expenses declined, despite inflation. 

However, mortgage banking remains weak, with originations down 3.5%. CRE loan stress is rising, with collateral-dependent loans doubling and one large restructuring. Loan growth is concentrated in higher-risk real estate segments. Liquidity is solid, with $334 million in borrowing capacity. Despite mixed fundamentals, the stock is up 23% in the past six months and trades at a discount to peers on P/E and P/B. 

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

Tucows’ shares have outperformed the Zacks Internet - Content industry over the past year (+33.9% vs. -13.7%). This microcap company with market capitalization of $235.29 million has its bull case resting on two high-margin engines. Domains is a steady cash generator — third-quarter 2025 revenues rose 5% year over year to $67.8 million and adjusted EBITDA reached $12.1 million despite a one-time wholesale customer moving in-house that reduced volumes. 

Value-added services and registry growth, with .IN live and about 10 million Radix domains migrating in 2026, add recurring upside ahead of the 2026 gTLD wave. Wavelo is scaling profitably, with revenues rising 18% to $11.9 million and adjusted EBITDA up 25% to $4.3 million as enterprise telecom deals expand. 

Bear risks include Ting still being loss-making and shifting to partner networks that dilute unit economics, high leverage plus stranded corporate and Ting Mobile costs through early 2026, and continued domain volume pressure from reseller consolidation.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Sanofi (SNY), TransDigm Group Inc. (TDG) and Monster Beverage Corp. (MNST).

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>>>