Tuesday, April 20, 2021

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 Walmart (WMT), Comcast (CMCSA), and Broadcom (AVGO). 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 Walmart have slightly underperformed the Zacks Supermarkets industry in the year to date period (-2.5% vs. -2.1%). The Zacks analyst believes that the company has been benefiting from high pandemic-led demand, especially in the e-commerce channel that remained strong across all units during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021

However, high COVID-19 costs and repayment of property tax relief in the U.K. hurt the adjusted operating income in the quarter, wherein earnings missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Further, the management’s fiscal 2022 view points toward a decline in net sales, operating income and earnings per share, primarily due to divestitures. Moreover, plans to raise wages of another 425,000 frontline workers, may hurt Walmart’s margins.

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

Comcast’s shares have gained +21% over the last six months against the Zacks Cable Television industry’s gain of +17.4%. The Zacks analyst believes that Comcast is benefiting from solid high-speed Internet customer wins.

Also, its strategy to provide high-speed Internet at an affordable price plays a pivotal role in providing connectivity and improving customer experience. Moreover, coronavirus-led increased media consumption, and work-from-home and online-learning waves bode well for Comcast’s Internet business.

Its streaming service, Peacock, has gained traction within a short span of time and has been a key catalyst in driving broadband sales. However, Comcast persistently suffers from video-subscriber attrition due to cord cutting. Moreover, theme park revenues are expected to suffer from lower footfall and indefinite closure of Hollywood park.

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

Shares of Broadcom have lost -2% in the past three months against the Zacks Electronics - Semiconductors industry’s loss of -3.8%. The Zacks analyst believes that Broadcom is well-positioned to benefit from strength seen across both Semiconductor solutions and Infrastructure software verticals.

Robust adoption of Wi-Fi 6 in access gateway, and cable DOCSIS 3.1 products bodes well. Acceleration in 5G deployment, production ramp up and increase in radio frequency (RF) content favors prospects, going ahead.

Further, an upbeat guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 on strong uptick in broadband revenues is encouraging. However, weak enterprise demand is likely to affect Brocade revenues and server storage business.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include AstraZeneca (AZN), Sanofi (SNY) and HSBC Holdings (HSBC).

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Sheraz Mian

Director of Research

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>>>