Thursday, January 25, 2024

The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 12 major stocks, including Oracle Corporation (ORCL), The Progressive Corporation (PGR) and MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI). 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 Oracle have gained +29.2% over the past year against the Zacks Computer - Software industry’s gain of +56.9%. The company’s second-quarter fiscal 2023 results benefited from a steady adoption of Gen 2 Cloud, Fusion and Autonomous Database despite slow cloud revenue growth. Its Gen 2 Cloud is driving artificial intelligence (AI) clientele because of better performance at a lower cost due to high bandwidth and low-latency RDMA networks.

Partnerships with VMware and Microsoft is helping Oracle win new clientele. The company is launching a generative AI cloud service for enterprise customers. Its share buybacks and dividend policy are noteworthy.

However, an uncertain economic environment and competition in the cloud computing market is weighing on demand for its cloud offerings. Stiff competition in the cloud market is slowing down the growth of its expansion efforts in the competitive market.

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

Progressive shares have outperformed the Zacks Insurance - Property and Casualty industry over the past year (+33.2% vs. +18.0%). The company continues to gain on higher premiums, given its compelling product portfolio, leadership position and strength in both Vehicle and Property businesses.

Focus on becoming a one-stop insurance destination, catering to customers opting for a combination of home and auto insurance, augurs well for the company's growth. Policies in force and retention ratio should remain healthy. Competitive pricing to retain current customers and address customer needs with new offerings should continue to drive policy life expectancy.

However, exposure to catastrophe losses induces underwriting volatility. Escalating expenses due to higher losses and settlement expenses remain an overhang on the margin. High debt level along with low times earned interest pose financial risk.

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

Shares of MercadoLibre have outperformed the Zacks Internet - Commerce industry over the past year (+48.3% vs. +28.4%). The company is benefiting from accelerating commerce and fintech revenues. Increasing total payments volume (TPV), courtesy of the robust Mercado Pago, is contributing well. Also, strong mobile-point-of-sale business is a plus.

Further, rising gross merchandise volume (GMV) remains a tailwind. Solid shipment growth is acting as a key catalyst. Growing momentum in user engagement, driven by continued improvements in logistics experience, is a plus. Also, strong momentum across the company's advertising services is a positive.

Additionally, MercadoLibre continues to benefit from strong online-to-offline offerings. However, mounting expenses related to warehousing, free shipping subsidies and mPOS discounts are major concerns.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Workday, Inc. (WDAY), Moderna, Inc. (MRNA) and Agilent Technologies, Inc. (A).

Director of Research

Sheraz Mian

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>>>