For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – March 20, 2020 – 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: Walmart WMT, NVIDIA NVDA, AstraZeneca AZN, Goldman Sachs GS and Global Payments GPN.
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
Top Analyst Reports for Walmart, NVIDIA and AstraZeneca
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 Walmart, NVIDIA and AstraZeneca. 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 >>>
Walmart’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Supermarkets industry over the past six months (+6.9% vs. +5.4%). The Zacks analyst believes that the company’s e-commerce sales surged on robust online grocery performance.
The company’s focus on strengthening e-commerce and store operations ha helped it retain its sturdy comps trend in fourth-quarter fiscal 2019, wherein U.S. comps rose for the 22nd straight time. Further, e-commerce sales surged on robust online grocery performance. Management expects e-commerce sales to rise nearly 30% in fiscal 2021, wherein International sales are likely to grow 4%.
However, Walmart’s earnings broke its positive surprise trend and fell year over year in the quarter due to higher cost of sales and increased operating, selling, general and administrative expenses. Additionally, disruption in Chile and a legal matter affected the bottom line. Further, the gross margin remained soft due to pricing and growing e-commerce mix.
Shares of NVIDIA have gained 19% over the past year against the Zacks General Semiconductor industry’s fall of -3.8%. The Zacks analyst believes that NVIDIA is benefiting from strong growth in GeForce desktop and notebook GPUs, which is boosting gaming revenues.
Moreover, an increase in Hyperscale demand remains a tailwind for the Data Center business. Further, the solid uptake of AI-based smart cockpit infotainment solutions is a boon. Additionally, strength across desktop workstation products is aiding Professional Visualization revenues.
However, in the near term, management expects a $100-million negative impact of the coronavirus menace on revenues. Moreover, the U.S.-China trade war remains a key concern. Also, lower demand for notebook workstations might be a near-term hindrance.
AstraZeneca’s shares have lost -22.4% over the past three months against the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry’s fall of -15.8%. The Zacks analyst believes that AstraZeneca’s core products like Nexium, Crestor and Seroquel are facing generic competition, which is hurting sales.
Its diabetes franchise also faces stiff competition while pricing pressure is hurting sales in the respiratory unit. Also, the coronavirus outbreak may hurt its profits in 2020. Nonetheless, AstraZeneca’s newer drugs, mainly cancer medicines Lynparza, Tagrisso and Imfinzi, should keep driving revenues in 2020.
Its pipeline is strong with abundance of pipeline catalysts lined up for 2020. Several launches are underway across each of the therapeutic areas, Oncology, CV metabolism and Respiratory. Cost-cutting efforts should drive earnings.
Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Goldman Sachs and Global Payments.
Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential
The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.
Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.
See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>
Media Contact
Zacks Investment Research
800-767-3771 ext. 9339
support@zacks.com
https://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 https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Walmart Inc. (WMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Global Payments Inc. (GPN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research