Wednesday, January 18 2017

We have featured 16 research reports in today's Research Daily, including reports on ExxonMobil (XOM) and Procter & Gamble (PG). These reports have been hand-picked from among the 70 or so reports issued by our research team today. You can see all of today's research reports here >>>

A brief comment on the ongoing Q4 earnings season is in order here. Including this morning's results from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and others, we now have Q4 results from 41 S&P 500 members that combined account for 12.5% of the index's total market capitalization. Total earnings for these companies are up +11.3% from the same period last year on +3.9% higher revenues, with 70.7% beating EPS estimates and 46.3% beating revenue estimates.

Relative to what we have seen from the same group of 41 index members in other recent periods, the earnings growth is tracking higher, revenue growth is about in-line and positive surprises for both earnings and revenues are below historical periods.

ExxonMobil shares tracked the S&P 500 index through year-end 2016, but have lagged the broader index as well as the peer super majors group in the year-to-date period, likely reflecting the company's perceived defensiveness that disadvantages it relative to its 'oilier' peers. Exxon's resilient integrated business model has long been the industry gold standard, which makes it an attractive and relatively low-risk Energy sector option for many investors. A fortress balance sheet, an attractive and totally safe dividend and a history of returning excess cash to shareholders are some of the other positives in the Exxon story. The Zacks analyst discusses the pros & cons of investing in Exxon shares in the updated research report issued today. (You can read the full research report on ExxonMobil here >>)

Procter & Gamble shares outperformed the Zacks Consumer Staples sector in the past year (+11.1% vs. +6.3%) on the back of strong organic sales (up +3% in Q3) and improving margins as a result of productivity gains and cost-saving efforts. On the flip side, the Zacks analyst points to mature end markets and the negative impact of the strong U.S. dollar as some of the headwinds for the stock. The stock was up following the last quarterly release, so it will be interesting to see how it performs in response to January 20th earnings report. P&G shares have moved roughly in-line with the S&P 500 index in the year-to-date period. (You can read the full research report on Procter & Gamble here >>)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Micron (MU), Macy's (M) and Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN).

Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2017

In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2017?

Who wouldn't? As of early December, the 2016 Top 10 produced 5 double-digit winners including oil and natural gas giant Pioneer Natural Resources which racked up a stellar +50% gain. The new list is painstakingly hand-picked from 4,400 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Be among the very first to see it >>

Sheraz Mian

Director of Research

Note: Note: Sheraz Mian regularly provides earnings analysis on Zacks.com and appears frequently in the print and electronic media. His weekly earnings related articles include Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview.

If you want an email notification each time Sheraz publishes a new article, please click here >>>