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Research Daily

Mark Vickery

Top Research Reports for Intuitive Surgical, HCA Healthcare & Exelon

EXC MMM ISRG MU HUM HCA

Trades from $3

Thursday, December 13, 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 Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), HCA Healthcare (HCA) and Exelon (EXC). 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 >>>

Intuitive Surgical’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Medical Instruments industry in the past year, gaining +43.1% vs +14%. The Zacks analyst thinks strong prospects of the company’s robotic platform – da Vinci System – is a major positive.

Notably, da Vinci procedures recorded solid growth in recent times. This is led by growth in U.S. general surgery procedures and global urologic procedures. Regulatory approval for the Sure Form 60 buoys optimism. Earlier this year, the company submitted a premarket notification to the FDA for the Ion endoluminal system.

Management is also optimistic about the company’s collaboration with InTouch Health. On the negative side, the company expects outside U.S. sales to be a bit lumpy in the quarters ahead. These markets are in early stages of adoption. Intense competition in the global MedTech space as well as long sale and purchase order cycles of da Vinci unit has been currently plaguing the company.

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

Shares of Buy-ranked HCA Healthcare have outperformed the Zacks Hospital industry in the past year, gaining +56.6% vs +35.4%. The Zacks analyst thinks its top line has been growing over the last several quarters on higher admissions as well as improved payor and service mix.

A number of acquisitions helped the company gain a strong foothold in the industry, fueling its inorganic growth. The company has also raised its guidance from its previous projections. A strong balance sheet and free cash flow are a couple of other positives for the company.

However, its high operating expenses continue to weigh on the margins. The company is expected to witness a rise in costs due its constant growth-related investments, which in turn would not allow debts to go down, remaining a concern.

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

Buy-ranked Exelon’s shares have gained +14.9% in the past year, outperforming the Zacks Electric Power Industry which has gained +0.4% over the same period. The Zacks analyst thinks Exelon is going to benefit from its $21 billion planned capital investment, focus on zero emission electricity generation and cost savings.

The company continues with its hedging program to manage market risks and protect the value of its generation. Strong cash flow generation capacity will help it lower debt levels and increase value of its shareholders. However, Exelon is subject to the impact of commodity price volatility and price fluctuation in the wholesale markets. Stringent government regulation is also a cause of concern.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include 3M (MMM), Humana (HUM) and Micron (MU).

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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>>>

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