Monday, August 16, 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 Walmart Inc. (WMT), UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH), and Starbucks Corporation (SBUX). 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 Walmart have modestly outperformed the Zacks Supermarkets industry over the past year (+13.2% vs. +12.2%), but the stock has otherwise struggled lately to reflect the market's skepticism about the company's post-Covid positioning. The Zacks analyst believes that Walmart has been gaining from its sturdy comps record, driven by constant omnichannel efforts. This is evident from the fact that it has maintained it comps run in the U.S. division for 27 quarters on the trot.

Stay-at-home trends have been boosting e-commerce sales, which increased across all units in first-quarter fiscal 2022. With curbs being lifted, the company’s U.S. store environment is in good shape, while e-commerce also remains on the growth trajectory. The second-quarter earnings view, however, suggests a decline due to divestitures related to the International unit.

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

UnitedHealth shares have gained +26.6% over the last six months against the Zacks Medical Insurance industry’s gain of +22.4%. The Zacks analyst believes that UnitedHealth's continued growth at Optum and UnitedHealthcare segments have been driving revenues. 

The company has been benefiting from a number of buyouts that have supplemented its organic growth and increased the scale and size of its business. Its solid health services segment offers significant diversification benefits. Pandemic-induced volatility, however, has been weighing on the company’s international and commercial businesses.

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

Shares of Starbucks have gained +5.6% in the past three months against the Zacks Food & Restaurants industry’s gain of +6.5%, however, it reported third-quarter fiscal 2021 results, wherein both earnings and revenues beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate.  

The Zacks analyst believes that the company has been benefiting from initiatives like opening stores in new and existing markets, remodeling existing stores, controlling costs as well as aggressive product innovation and brand building. Starbucks, however, cautioned of a slower recovery in China. It has narrowed both international and China same-store sales growth for fiscal 2021.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Amgen Inc. (AMGN), Lam Research Corporation (LRCX) and Sinopec (SNP).

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>>>