Thursday, August 21, 2025

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 Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and AbbVie Inc. (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 >>>

Ahead of Wall Street

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You can read today's AWS here >>> Jobless Claims Up, Philly Fed Down, Walmart Q2 Mixed

Today's Featured Research Reports

Shares of Alphabet have gained +5.5% over the year-to-date period against the Zacks Internet - Services industry’s gain of +6.9%. The company is riding on strong cloud and search growth. Google Cloud is benefiting from accelerated growth across AI infrastructure and Generative AI Solutions. Google Cloud’s annual revenue run rate is now more than $50 billion. 

GOOGL is advancing visual and contextual search capabilities. The Circle to Search feature is now active on more than 300 million devices. AI Overviews now reach more than 2 billion users per month and are available in over 200 countries across 40 languages. It is now driving over 10% more queries globally.

Google Cloud is benefiting from its partnership with the likes of NVIDIA and PayPal. Google Cloud’s expanding clientele is expected to boost GOOGL’s top line. However, increasing litigation issues and intensifying competition in cloud computing are concerns.

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

Exxon Mobil’s shares have gained +3.7% over the year-to-date period against the Zacks Oil and Gas - Integrated - International industry’s gain of +6.7%. The company is advancing key oil projects in the Permian Basin and offshore Guyana, boosting production and efficiency. Its recent merger with Pioneer enhances its U.S. operations, while Guyana remains a major growth driver.  

Exxon Mobil is also expanding into cleaner energy, with a major low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia plant in Texas and progress in advanced plastic recycling. The company’s low debt exposure positions it to navigate different commodity cycles with ease. The company reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings fueled by higher liquid production from the United States and stronger industry refining margins. 

However, the Chemicals Division remains a weak spot, with global oversupply leading to margin compression. Moreover, ongoing tariff tensions are weighing on the energy giant’s already oversupplied chemicals business.

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

Shares of AbbVie have outperformed the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry over the year-to-date period (+21% vs. +0.2%). The company beats second-quarter estimates for both earnings and sales. AbbVie has successfully navigated Humira's loss of exclusivity (LOE) by launching two other successful new immunology medicines, Skyrizi and Rinvoq, which are performing extremely well, bolstered by approvals in new indications. 

These should support top-line growth in the next few years. AbbVie is returning to robust revenue growth in 2025, which is just the second year following the U.S. Humira LOE. It has been on an acquisition spree in the past couple of years to bolster its early-stage pipeline that should drive long-term growth. 

However, the company faces several near-term headwinds like Humira LOE impact, increasing competitive pressure on Imbruvica and slowing sales of its aesthetics franchise.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Constellation Energy Corp. (CEG), Quanta Services, Inc. (PWR) and Markel Group Inc. (MKL).

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>>>