Friday, March 17, 2017

Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Boeing (BA), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Oracle (ORCL). You can see all of today's research reports here >>>

Boeing’s shares have surged +33% over the past one-year, outperforming the Zacks Aerospace & Defense sector, which gained +25.7% during the same time period. The analyst stresses that rising demand for its commercial airplanes on the back of steady improvement in passenger and freight traffic is the major factor behind the surge in Boeing shares. These developments reflect the company’s latest expansion on the international front, apart from its strong presence in the domestic aviation market. The improving outlook for defense spending under the Trump administration is another long-term positive in the Boeing story.  However, challenges including uncertain fate of high-cost programs, risks related to key project executions, order cancellations as well as stiff competition might have a negative impact on the company. (You can read the full research report on Boeing here >>)

Buy rated Goldman Sachs shares performed impressively over the past three months on the back of the strong Finance sector rally following the November election. Expectations of improved U.S. economic growth under the Trump administration and the removal or easing of strict restrictions under the Dodd-Frank legislation are big benefits for the brokerage industry in general and Goldman Sachs in particular. Goldman's reputation for trading prowess positions it to benefit from increased investor confidence and risk appetite. The stock is up +36.4% since November 8th vs. +31.3% gain for the industry, but the Zacks analyst still sees upside given continued favorable revisions to estimates. (You can read the full research report on Goldman Sachs here >>)

Oracle came out with a positive surprise in its quarterly report the other day, showing strong momentum in its cloud business that is offsetting declines in its legacy licensing business. The stock was up big on the earnings report and is now up +19.4% in the year-to-date period vs. +10.2% gain for the Zacks Technology sector. This earnings report has added to confidence in Oracle's ability to transition to a cloud-based business model. The company’s offerings in SaaS and PaaS have gained significant momentum in the past few quarters, which improves competitive position against salesforce.com and Workday. The introduction of Gen 2 IaaS data centers is expected to improve Oracle’s competitive prowess against Amazon. The Zacks analyst likes the company’s growing cloud market share and believes it will continue to drive top-line growth for the foreseeable future. (You can read the full research report on Oracle here >>)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Cognizant (CTSH), Dollar General (DG) and Magna International (MGA).

5 Trades Could Profit "Big-League" from Trump Policies 
If the stocks above spark your interest, wait until you look into companies primed to make substantial gains from Washington's changing course.

Today Zacks reveals 5 tickers that could benefit from new trends like streamlined drug approvals, tariffs, lower taxes, higher interest rates, and spending surges in defense and infrastructure. See these buy recommendations now >>

Sheraz Mian

Director of Research

Note: Note: Sheraz Mian regularly provides earnings analysis on Zacks.com and appears frequently in the print and electronic media. His weekly earnings related articles include Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview. If you want an email notification each time Sheraz publishes a new article, please click here>>>