For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL - March 1, 2019 - 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: Comcast CMCSA , Deere DE and Exelon EXC .
Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:
Top Analyst Reports for Comcast, Deere and Exelon
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 Comcast (CMCSA), Deere (DE) and Exelon (EXC). 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 >>>
Comcast 's shares have outperformed the S&P 500 in the past year, gaining +6.4% vs. +2.9%. The Zacks analyst thinks Comcast is benefiting from solid growth in residential high-speed Internet customers. Expanding Wi-Fi coverage along with innovative xFi control features is improving customer experience. The company's Xfinity Mobile is now used by more than one million customers.
Additionally, Green Book 's Best Picture Oscar win bodes well for Comcast division Universal Pictures. Further, the Sky acquisition expands Comcast's international reach. Notably, the company will enter the streaming market through NBCUniversal's upcoming service.
However, the streaming market is highly competitive and significant investment is needed to gain footprint. Hence, incremental spending on content can hurt Comcast's margin expansion. Moreover, the company continues to lose voice and video subscribers due to cord-cutting. Additionally, high debt level is a headwind.
Shares of Deere have increased +11.7% over the past six months, outperforming the S&P 500, which has declined -3.6% over the same period. Deere's first-quarter fiscal 2019 adjusted earnings and revenues rose on a year-over-year basis aided by demand growth in key markets. Earnings missed expectations while revenues beat the same.
For fiscal 2019, Deere projects net sales growth of 7% year over year and net income of $3.6 billion. The Zacks analyst thinks the company will benefit from improving construction markets and growing replacement demand for agricultural equipment. The acquisition of Wirtgen, which enhances Deere's exposure to global transportation infrastructure, will be a catalyst. Introduction of advanced technologies in its products will fuel growth.
Raw material cost inflation, elevated expenses and unfavorable foreign currency impact will hurt margins in the near term. Nevertheless, Deere remains well poised for long-term growth backed by population and urbanization growth.
Exelon 's shares have gained +30.4% in the past year, outperforming the S&P 500 which has gained +2.9% over the same period. Although Exelon's earnings per share during the fourth quarter were in line with estimates, the bottom line improved from the year-ago level. The improvement was due to new rates at PHI and higher energy efficiency earnings at ComEd.
The Zacks analyst thinks Exelon is likely to benefit from its $23-billion planned capital investment, focus on zero-emission electricity generation and cost savings. The company continues with its hedging program to manage market risks and protect the value of its generation. Strong cash flow generation capacity will help it lower debt levels and increase value of its shareholders.
However, Exelon is subject to the impact of commodity price volatility and price fluctuation in the wholesale markets. Stringent government regulation is also a cause of concern.
Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Monster Beverage (MNST) and Newmont (NEM).
Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019
In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?
Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%.
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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 http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Exelon Corporation (EXC): Free Stock Analysis Report
Comcast Corporation (CMCSA): Free Stock Analysis Report
Deere & Company (DE): Free Stock Analysis Report
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
