Thursday, November 11, 2021

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 Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B), and Oracle Corporation (ORCL). 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 Microsoft have handily outperformed the S&P 500 in the past three months (+14.4% vs. +4.6%) on the back of momentum in its Azure cloud platform amid accelerated global digital transformation. Continuation of remote work and mainstream adoption of hybrid/flexible work model has also been boosting Teams’ user growth.

Microsoft is also witnessing growth in user base of its different applications including Microsoft 365 suite, Dynamics and Power Platform. Surface revenues, however, are likely to decline in the fiscal second quarter owing to supply chain disruptions. Increased spending on Azure enhancements amid stiff competition in the cloud space has been weighing on its margins.

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

Berkshire Hathaway shares have gained +23.1% in the year to date period against the Zacks Insurance - Property and Casualty industry’s gain of +20.8%. The Zacks analyst believes that Berkshire Hathaway is poised to benefit from its insurance, manufacturing, service and retail businesses, as well as disciplined capital management initiatives.

Continued insurance business growth driving earnings growth as well as generating maximum return on equity. The non-insurance businesses are delivering improved results with increased revenues over the past few years. Exposure to catastrophe loss, however, not only leads to earnings volatility but also affects margins from the property and casualty underwriting business.

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

Shares of Oracle have gained +68.8% over the past year against the Zacks Computer Software industry’s gain of +49.4%. The Zacks analyst believes that Oracle has been benefiting from the ongoing momentum across its cloud business, driven by strong uptake of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) services and Autonomous Database offerings.

Solid demand for the Oracle Dedicated Region Cloud@Customer is also anticipated to drive the top line. High costs related to product enhancements amid increasing competition in the cloud market is likely to limit margin expansion, in the near term though.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Medtronic plc (MDT), CVS Health Corporation (CVS) and Simon Property Group, Inc. (SPG).

Sheraz Mian

Director of Research

Note: Sheraz Mian heads the Zacks Equity Research department and is a well-regarded expert of aggregate earnings. He is frequently quoted in the print and electronic media and publishes the weekly Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview reports. If you want an email notification each time Sheraz publishes a new article, please click here>>>