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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Alphabet, Alibaba Group, Costco Wholesale, The Estee Lauder and Canadian National Railway

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – April 11, 2023 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) , Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA - Free Report) , Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST - Free Report) , The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (EL - Free Report) and Canadian National Railway Co. (CNI - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Stock Reports for Alphabet, Alibaba and Costco

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., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Costco Wholesale Corp.. 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 Alphabet have gained +22.8% this year vs. +19.8% for the Zacks Tech sector and +7.5% for the S&P 500 index, reflecting the favorable outlook for the company's strong cloud division. Expanding data center network and rising number of infrastructure regions will continue to bolster its presence in the cloud space. For first-quarter 2023, we expect Google Cloud revenue to grow 9.7% year over year.

Also, strong focus on innovation of AI techniques, and growing interest in the home automation space should aid business growth in the long term. Further, a deepening focus on its wearables category remains a tailwind. Also, Alphabet's expanding presence in the autonomous driving space is contributing well. Its growing efforts to gain a foothold in the healthcare industry are other positives.

However, sluggishness in the company's advertisement business remains a major headwind. Additionally, its growing litigation issues and increasing expenses are concerns.

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

Alibaba shares have outperformed the Zacks Internet - Commerce industry over the past year (+1.2% vs. -24.6%) on the back of the company's leverage to the Chinese economy whose outlook has risen following the country's post-Covid reopening. The company is witnessing solid momentum across the international commerce retail businesses and is driving its top-line growth. The Zacks analyst expects the business to be up 9.1% in fiscal 2023 on a year-over-year basis. Additionally, solid momentum across financial services, education and automobile industries is driving the company's cloud business.

According to our estimates, cloud revenues are expected to witness a 3.3% rise in fiscal 2023 from fiscal 2022. This apart, strength across the local consumer services and Cainiao logistics services, Alibaba Health and Freshippo is contributing well.

However, uncertainties associated with coronavirus pandemic remain major concerns, especially for Alibaba's domestic businesses. Also, rising expenses associated with new initiatives are overhangs. Additionally, softness in the digital media business is a headwind.

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

Shares of Costco Wholesale have gained +3.3% over the past six months against the Zacks Retail - Discount Stores industry's gain of +8.0%. The company being a consumer defensive stock, has been surviving the market turmoil pretty well. The discount retailer's key strengths are strategic investments, a customer-centric approach, merchandise initiatives, and an emphasis on membership growth. These factors have been helping it register impressive sales and earnings numbers.

The Zacks analyst expect the company to register a 6.5% adjusted earnings per share improvement in fiscal 2023 on 6.5% revenue growth. This outlook accounts for the businesses' ability to navigate the ongoing inflationary environment and supply chain bottlenecks on several fronts.

A favorable product mix, steady store traffic, pricing power and strong liquidity position should help Costco keep outperforming. While trading at a premium to its peers, its long-term growth prospects should help the stock see a solid upside.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and Canadian National Railway Co..

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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