Back to top

Image: Bigstock

The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: PetroChina, NextEra, Eni, Dr Pepper and Regeneron

Read MoreHide Full Article

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL –November 16, 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: PetroChina NextEra (NEE - Free Report) , Eni (E - Free Report) , Dr Pepper (KDP - Free Report) and Regeneron (REGN - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Stock Reports for PetroChina, NextEra and Eni

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 PetroChina, NextEra and Eni. These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.

PetroChina’s shares have lost -7.1% over the past six months, outperforming the Zacks International Integrated Oil industry, which declined -11.6% over the same period. While PetroChina recently reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings triggered by tepid oil production growth and massive gas import losses, results were strong overall.

PetroChina's upstream unit profit soared from the year-ago period thanks to steady commodity price recovery and stricter cost control, while the downstream business – consisting of the refining and chemicals activities – also impressed on the back of optimized resource allocation, strict cost control and increased production of high-value products. PetroChina also experienced strong refined products demand and higher natural gas sales.

However, the Zacks analyst thinks the company's weak oil production growth prospects is an area of concern. A limited international operation and losses on gas imports gives investors more reason to be cautious on the stock. Hence, while looking incrementally positive, PetroChina ADRs are expected to remain soft.

Shares of NextEra have outperformed the Zacks Electric Power industry over the past year (the stock is up +12.4% vs. the -4.8% decline for the industry). NextEra Energy’s third-quarter earnings were better than expected, courtesy of solid contribution from both Florida Power & Light Company, and NextEra Energy Resources segments.

The Zacks analyst thinks the company’s investments to strengthen its infrastructure and ongoing capital projects, on completion, will help serve its expanding customer base more efficiently. The expansion of its natural gas operations through strategic acquisitions is going to have a positive impact on earnings.

However, the company’s nature of business is subject to complex and comprehensive federal, state and other regulations. Substantial investments are undertaken to ensure the safety of nuclear operations. That said, the risk of unplanned outages remains, which could derail its normal operations and impact profitability.

Strong-Buy rankedEni’s shares have gained +1.8% year to date, outperforming the Zacks International Integrated Oil industry, which declined -5.4% over the same period. The Zacks analyst thinks start-up of new upstream projects in Egypt, including Zohr and Noroos gas fields, has been supporting Eni's production growth.

In fact, the company expects oil and natural gas production to rise 3% through 2018. Notably, the decision to spend €3.5 billion through 2021 for exploration and production operations in 25 countries will likely help Eni achieve compound annual production growth rate of 3.5% through 2021 since 2017.

Apart from upstream businesses, Eni is planning to achieve growth in refining, marketing and chemical operations. Through 2021, the company projects free cashflow of more than €4.7 billion from downstream activities. Eni is also committed to returning cash to shareholders through dividend payments as it intends to lift the annual dividend in 2018 by 3.8%.

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Keurig Dr Pepper and Regeneron.

Wall Street’s Next Amazon

Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.

Click for details >>

Media Contact

Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

support@zacks.com                                      

http://www.zacks.com                                                   

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 http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Published in