Monday, December 24, 2018

The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features updated research reports on 16 major stocks including Apple Inc. (AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and Mastercard Inc (MA). These reports have been hand-picked from roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.

You can see all of today’s research reports here >>>

Apple’s shares have lost -17.3% in the past six months versus the Zacks Computer - Mini computers industry's decline of -17.5%. Apple is benefiting from robust iPhone average selling price (ASP) as well as strength in the services and wearables segments. The Services segment has become the new cash cow for Apple and is expected to grow strongly, boosted by steadily increasing adoption of Apple Music and Apple Pay.

Moreover, robust demand for wearables is expected to drive top-line growth. Further, Apple’s foray into fast-growing technologies like autonomous vehicle, artificial intelligence (AI) & AR/VR will drive further growth.

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

Shares of Buy-rated Microsoft have rallied +14.9% year to date, outperforming the Zacks Computer Software industry's +8.2% gain. Microsoft is benefiting from growing user base of its different applications like Office 365 commercial, Dynamics, Outlook mobile and Teams. Moreover, Azure’s expanding customer base is a key catalyst.

The company's gaming segment is performing well, primarily driven by a combination of Xbox Live, Game Pass subscriptions and Mixer, which are driving user engagement. Further, acquisitions like PlayFab and GitHub expand Microsoft’s total addressable market (TAM). Additionally, expanding partner base is notable.

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

Buy-rated Mastercard’s have outperformed the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry over the past year (+16.1% vs. +3.1%).  The company is poised for growth, given its solid market position, ongoing expansion and digital initiatives plus significant opportunities from the secular shift toward electronic payments. Its numerous acquisitions have aided revenue growth. The company is gaining from increase in switched transactions, cross-border volume and gross dollar volume from higher spending.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Sanofi (SNY), BlackRock (BLK) and Dominion Energy (D).

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.

Click here for the 6 trades >>

Note: Our Director of Research 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>>>