Wednesday, March 17, 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 Alphabet (GOOGL), Facebook (FB), and The Home Depot (HD). 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 Alphabet have gained +18.9% in the past three months against the Zacks Internet Services industry’s gain of +12%. The Zacks analyst believes that Alphabet's strengthening cloud unit is aiding substantial revenue growth.

Moreover, expanding data centers will continue to bolster its presence in the cloud space. Further, major updates in its search segment are enhancing the search results, which is a major positive. Also, Google’s robust mobile search is gaining solid momentum.

Additionally, strong focus on innovation of AI techniques and the home automation space should aid business growth in the long term. Further, its deepening focus on wearables category remains a tailwind. However, the company’s growing litigation issues and increasing expenses might hurt profitability.

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

Facebook’s shares have gained +10.5% over the last six months against the S&P 500’s gain of +20.2%. The Zacks analyst believes that Facebook is benefiting from steady user growth across all regions, particularly Asia Pacific.

Increased engagement for its products like Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger is a major growth driver. Strong advertising revenues were driven by a strong holiday shopping season for retail that benefited from the ongoing shift to online commerce.

The company expects year-over-year growth rates in total revenues to remain stable or modestly accelerate on a sequential basis in the first and second quarters of 2021. Moreover, increasing regulatory headwinds in the EU and other countries is a concern.

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

Home Depot shares have underperformed the Zacks Retail Building Products industry over the past year (+81.8% vs. +98.3%). The Zacks analyst believes that Home Depot’s interconnected retail strategy and underlying technology infrastructure have helped boost web traffic in fiscal 2020.

During the fourth-quarter fiscal 2020, the company witnessed continued strong demand for home improvement projects. Also, broad-based strength across its business and geographies led to comparable sales growth.

However, the company has been witnessing soft margins trend on higher expenses. Negative product mix and pressures from shrink and higher transportation costs have been headwinds.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Chevron (CVX), Starbucks (SBUX) and HSBC Holdings (HSBC).

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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>>>