Monday, January 3, 2022

Today's first Research Daily of 2022 features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM), Oracle Corporation (ORCL), and TotalEnergies SE (TTE). 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 Exxon Mobil have outperformed the Zacks Integrated International Oil industry over the past year (+56.6% vs. +41.5%) on the back of the company's industry-leading asset base and balance sheet. The Zacks analyst believes that major discoveries in the Stabroek Block have enhanced prospects for ExxonMobil's upstream businesses. The company also has a strong presence in the prolific Permian Basin, where it continues to lower its fracking & drilling costs.

ExxonMobil's bellwether status and an optimal integrated capital structure that has historically produced industry-leading returns make it a relatively lower-risk energy sector play. XOM now expects higher sequential profits from its upstream operations in the recently-concluded December quarter. ExxonMobil's lower oil equivalent production volumes are a concern, though.

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

Oracle shares have gained +7.3% over the past six months against the Zacks Computer Software industry’s gain of +14.8%, but the outlook for the stock is improving. The Zacks analyst believes that Oracle stands to benefit from the ongoing momentum across its cloud business, driven by strong uptake of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services as well as Autonomous Database offerings.

Healthy adoption of ORCL’s cloud-based applications also bodes well in the long term. Solid demand for the Oracle Dedicated Region Cloud@Customer is expected to drive the top line. Oracle’s share buybacks and dividend policy is noteworthy. Increased spending on product enhancements, especially toward cloud platform, amid increasing competition in the cloud domain is likely to dent its margins, though.

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

Shares of TotalEnergies have gained +2.8% in the last three months against the Zacks Other Alternative Energy industry’s gain of +2.5%. The Zacks analyst believes that TotalEnergies’ ongoing investments, cost-reduction initiatives, solid cash flow, and new projects is likely to boost its performance.

TTE continues to streamline its portfolio through acquisitions and divestiture of non-core assets. TotalEnergies is making regular investments to expand renewable operation and strives to achieve net-zero emission by 2050. Acquisition-related risks and exposure to certain politically-troubled regions, however, are some of the major concerns for TTE.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Ford Motor Company (F), Block, Inc. (SQ) and Waste Management, Inc. (WM).

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>>>