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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Johnson & Johnson, Nike, BP, eBay and BCE

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL –August 27, 2018 – 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: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) , Nike (NKE - Free Report) , BP (BP - Free Report) , eBay (EBAY - Free Report) and BCE (BCE - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Research Reports for Johnson & Johnson, Nike and BP

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 Johnson & Johnson, Nike and BP. These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.

Johnson & Johnson’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry in the last three months, gaining +11.2% vs. +10.5%. J&J’s sales growth has accelerated since second half of 2017 backed by higher sales in the Pharmaceutical unit and improving performance in Medical Devices unit.

J&J has already raised its full-year organic sales growth expectations twice this year. Though quite a few key products in J&J’s portfolio, like Remicade and Concerta, are facing generic competition, the Zacks analyst believes that new products across segments, successful label expansion of cancer drugs like Imbruvica and Darzalex and contributions from recent acquisitions will continue to drive top-line growth.

J&J also enjoys a robust multi-year pipeline of new drugs and line extensions. Meanwhile, share buybacks and restructuring initiatives should provide bottom-line support. 

Shares of Nike have gained +14.8% in the last three months, outperforming the Zacks Shoes and Retail Apparel industry, which gained 12.8% over the same period. The company has delivered positive earnings for over three years now, with fourth-quarter fiscal 2018 marking the 24th straight quarter of earnings beat.

Moreover, sales topped estimates for the fifth straight quarter. Strong progress on Consumer Direct Offense through innovation and focus on direct-to-customer are the key drivers.

Additionally, continued growth at international and NIKE Direct businesses, as well as the return of the North America business to growth in the fiscal fourth quarter, aided results. Driven by these positives, the company raised its revenue guidance for fiscal 2019.

BP’s shares have outperformed the Zacks International Integrated Oil industry over the past year (24.4% vs. 13.6%). The integrated energy company has been gaining on the back of a strong portfolio of upstream projects. Since 2016, BP has placed 16 key upstream projects online, including Atoll Phase 1, Shah Deniz 2 and Taas-Yuryakh oil expansion in Russia.

Such developments continue assisting the British energy giant to boost production by 900 thousand barrel of oil equivalent per day (MBOE/D) by 2021. Moreover, the company has a strong commitment in returning cash back to the shareholders through share buybacks and dividend payments.

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include eBay and BCE.

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