Monday, April 13, 2020

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 Alibaba Group (BABA), Pfizer (PFE) and S&P Global (SPGI). 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 >>>

Alibaba’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Internet Commerce industry over the past six months (+14.7% vs. +11.9%). The Zacks analyst believes that Alibaba continues to benefit from strong growth in metrics.

Further, Alibaba’s strengthening cloud business with its expanding customer base continues to drive its performance. Its New Retail strategy is also gaining momentum. This is aiding growth in Tmall Import, Hema fresh food grocery business and Intime Department Stores. However, higher costs associated with new initiatives remain a major concern.

Also, uncertain economy and macro headwinds in China are major concerns. In addition, rising competition from e-commerce players poses a risk. However, the steady improvement in core commerce and strong cloud business remain positives.

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

Shares of Pfizer have lost 15.9% over the past year against the Zacks Large-Cap Pharmaceuticals industry’s rise of +3.6%. The Zacks analyst believes that the Consumer Healthcare joint venture with Glaxo, the Array acquisition and the pending merger of the Upjohn unit with Mylan, if successful, will make Pfizer a smaller company which should see better revenue growth as the Lyrica LOE cliff will go away.

The company expects continued strong growth of key brands like Ibrance, Inlyta and Eliquis to drive sales in 2020. It has a strong portfolio of new drugs, which will accelerate growth in 2020 and beyond. 

However, Lyrica generic erosion, currency headwinds, pricing pressure and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic are near-term top-line headwinds. Estimates have declined slightly ahead of Q1 earnings. Pfizer has a positive record of earnings surprises in the recent quarters.

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

S&P Global’s shares have lost 2.3% over the past three months against the Zacks Business Information Services industry’s fall of -9.8%. The Zacks analyst believes that the company remains well poised to gain from growing demand for business information services. Buyouts have helped it innovate, increase differentiated content and develop new products.

The outperformance partly reflects better-than-expected earnings and revenue performance in the last three quarters. Effective management execution has helped it generate solid cash flow which is utilized for growth initiatives.

Dividend payments and share buybacks boost investors' confidence and positively impact earnings per share. On the flip side, S&P Global remains vulnerable to proceedings, investigations and inquiries with respect to the ratings provided, leading to legal charges, damages or fines. Lower bank loan ratings activity has been weighing on the company's revenues.

(You can read the full research report on S&P Global here >>>)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include SAP SE (SAP), Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Duke Energy (DUK).

Just Released: Zacks’ 7 Best Stocks for Today

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These 7 were selected because of their superior potential for immediate breakout.

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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>>>