Thursday, January 18, 2018

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 Apple (AAPL), JPMorgan (JPM) and AbbVie (ABBV). 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 >>>

Buy-rated Apple’s shares are up +49.5% over the past year, handily outperforming the S&P 500 (up +24.2%) and the Zacks Technology sector (up +29.6%). The company is benefiting from steady iPhone sales, spurt in Services segment and resurgence in Mac and iPad sales. The company is anticipated to benefit from the strong demand of iPhone X in mature markets, which will help it to sustain momentum in the near term.

Going forward, the Zacks analyst thinks foray into fast-growing technologies like autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence (AI) & AR/VR are long-term drivers. Moreover, Apple’s new investment plan will boost its subscription-based services business and put an end to criticism it is facing for not creating enough jobs in the United States.

Estimates have remained stable ahead of the company's Q1 earnings release. The company has positive record of earnings surprises in recent quarters.

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

Shares of Buy-rated JPMorgan have outperformed the Zacks Major Regional Banks industry over the past six months (up +23.9% vs. +18.7%). This price performance is backed by impressive earnings surprise history, with the company surpassing expectations in each of the trailing four quarters.

The company’s fourth-quarter 2017 results benefited mainly from higher interest income and investment banking fees, partially offset by lower trading revenues and mortgage banking fess along with a surge in provisions for loan losses. The Zacks analyst likes the bank’s efforts to manage expenses.

Higher interest rates and rising loan demand will likely continue to benefit its financials. While the company faces persistent fee income growth challenges, mainly due to a slowdown in trading activities and dismal capital markets performance, lower tax rates will aid profitability in the quarters ahead.

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

Buy-rated AbbVie’s shares have gained +70.1% over the last one year, outperforming the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry, which has gained +22.9% over the same period. This strong performance is supported by a series of positive news including promising data from several pivotal studies, regulatory approvals in the U.S., Europe, and Japan for its competitive HCV medicine Mavyret and FDA approval for the sixth indication for Imbrivica and settlement of its Humira patent disputes with Amgen.

AbbVie’s key drug Humira has been performing well based on strong demand trends for the drug, despite new competition. Moreover, Imbruvica has multibillion dollar potential and AbbVie is exploring the possibility of label expansion into solid tumors and autoimmune diseases. Also, several pivotal data readouts and regulatory milestones are expected in 2018.

However, HCV sales continue to be hurt by intensifying competition. Estimates have remained stable ahead of the Q4 earnings release. AbbVie has a positive record of earnings surprises in the recent quarters.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include MetLife (MET), Gilead (GILD) and Simon Property Group (SPG).

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Mark Vickery

Senior Editor

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>>>