Monday, February 6, 2023

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 ConocoPhillips (COP), Medtronic plc (MDT) and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL). 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 >>>

ConocoPhillips’ shares have outperformed the Zacks Oil and Gas - Integrated - U.S. industry over the past six months (+15.5% vs. +13.5%). The company holds bulk acreages in the unconventional plays of Eagle Ford shale, Permian Basin and Bakken shale. Significant opportunities are there for the firm in the Bakken Shale, where it owns about 750 undrilled locations that could provide access to huge reserves.

COP projects its 2022 production at 1.74 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MMBoe/d), suggesting an increase from 1.6 MMBoe/d last year. COP’s balance sheet is significantly less leveraged than the industry it belongs to. Also, it approved a $20-billion increase in the existing share repurchase program to $45 billion.

However, COP is highly exposed to oil price fluctuations, which makes things challenging for the company. Also, it been generating lower dividend yields than the industry over the past few years. As such, the stock warrants a cautious stance.

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

Shares of Medtronic have declined -14.6% over the past year against the Zacks Medical - Products industry’s decline of -35.2%. The company’s innovations and market expansion efforts are helping it offset the impact of the high inflation and supply disruptions. The Zacks analyst believes in fiscal 2024, adjusted earnings are expected to grow 1.5% on 2.9% growth in revenues.

However, Medtronic is strategically expanding its global presence to address the unmet demand for advanced medical technologies. We expect Medtronic to register an international sales CAGR of 1.5% through 2025. Within cardiovascular, Medtronic is gaining market share, banking on product launches. Within MedSurg, Medtronic is scaling production of Hugo RAS.

Medtronic’s strong liquidity position should allow it to meet its near-term debt obligations. All these factors support our bullish stance on the stock.

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

Shares of PayPal have declined -29.5% over the past year against the Zacks Internet - Software industry’s decline of -31.0%. The company trimmed its guidance for revenue growth in anticipation of an economic downturn, which might slow down consumer spending. Further, intensifying market competition and foreign exchange headwinds remain risks.

However, PayPal is benefiting from growing total payments volume owing to increasing net new active accounts. Strengthening customer engagement on the company’s platform is a major positive. Further, Venmo’s improving monetization efforts and rising adoption rate across various platforms are aiding the total active accounts growth.

Solid momentum across core peer to peer, merchant services, PayPal Checkout experiences remains a tailwind. We believe accelerating transaction revenues of PayPal are likely to continue driving revenues. Considering the abovementioned facts, we expect net revenues in 2022 to rise 8.4% from 2021.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Mondelez International, Inc. (MDLZ), The Hershey Co. (HSY) and DTE Energy Co. (DTE).

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>>>