Friday, September 14, 2018

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 JPMorgan (JPM), Mastercard (MA) and AbbVie (ABBV). 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 >>>

Buy-ranked JPMorgan’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Major Regional Banks industry over the past three months (+5.2% vs. +1.5%). Also, the company has an impressive earnings surprise history, having surpassed expectations in each of the trailing four quarters.

The Zacks analyst thinks expansion into new markets, focus on strengthening the card business, higher interest rates and rising loan demand will benefit the bank’s financials. While dismal mortgage banking performance (as originations continue to decline) remains a major concern, lower tax rates and easing of stringent regulations are expected to offer some support. Also, the company's enhanced capital deployment plans reflect strong balance sheet.

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

Shares of Mastercard have increased +53.4% over the past year, significantly outperforming the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry’s rally of +36.1%. The Zacks analyst thinks the company is poised for growth, given its solid market position, ongoing expansion and digital initiatives plus significant opportunities from the secular shift toward electronic payments.

The buyouts of VocaLink and NuData Security complement efforts to participate in new payment flows, and enhance safety and security offerings. The company has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 and 2019 earnings being revised upward over the last 30 days. However, escalating costs, higher incentives and rewards will put pressure on its bottom line.

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

AbbVie’s shares have lost -0.4% year to date, underperforming the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry's rally of +6.6%. The Zacks analyst thinks AbbVie’s key drug, Humira has been performing well based on strong demand trends, despite new competition.

Moreover, Imbruvica has multibillion dollar potential and AbbVie is exploring the possibility of label expansion into solid tumors and autoimmune diseases. Mavyret’s launch has also been stronger than expected. Mavyret has become a major growth driver for AbbVie in a short time on the market.

AbbVie has an impressive late-stage pipeline with launch of several products with multibillion-dollar potential expected in the near term. AbbVie expects to launch more than 20 new products or line extensions of marketed drugs before Humira biosimilar competition begins in the United States in 2023. Potential biosimilar competition to Humira in Europe this year is an overhang.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include CVS Health (CVS), Schwab (SCHW) and Estee Lauder (EL).

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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>>>