Friday, April 8, 2022

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 Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST), AstraZeneca PLC (AZN), and Medtronic plc (MDT). 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 Costco have outperformed the Zacks Retail - Discount Stores industry over the past year (+69.5% vs. +23.7%), reflecting the company's growth strategies, better price management, decent membership trend, and increasing penetration of e-commerce business. The strategy to sell products at discounted prices has helped draw customers seeking both value and convenience. These factors have been aiding in registering impressive sales and earnings numbers.

Costco put up a decent performance in second-quarter fiscal 2022, wherein both the top and the bottom lines improved year over year. Also, Costco has been witnessing stellar comps sales run. While the aforementioned factors raise optimism. However, supply chain bottlenecks and higher labor and freight costs remain concerns. Any deleverage in SG&A rate may hurt margins.

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

Shares of AstraZeneca have outperformed the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry over the past year (+47% vs. +38.5%). The Zacks analyst believes that the company’s newer drugs, mainly cancer medicines, Lynparza, Tagrisso and Imfinzi should keep driving revenues. Its pipeline is strong with several phase III data readouts lined up. AstraZeneca has also engaged in external acquisitions and strategic collaborations to boost its pipeline while investing in geographic areas of high growth like emerging markets. Cost-cutting efforts should drive earnings.

The Alexion buyout strengthens its immunology franchise, adding several drugs that can boost its top line. However, AstraZeneca’s diabetes franchise faces stiff competition while pricing pressure is hurting sales in the respiratory unit. Sales of some medicines are being hurt due to COVID-19. Sales are slowing down in key markets, China, due to pricing pressure.

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

Shares of Medtronic have outperformed the Zacks Medical - Products industry over the year-to-date period (+9.3% vs. -7.3%). Medtronic has registered organic growth in the Cardiovascular, Neuroscience and Diabetes segments. The company claims share gains in 60% of its businesses.

However, the sluggish top-line results reflect the unfavorable market impact of COVID-19 and health system labor shortages. CRDN sales decreased in the mid-single digits, given the impact of COVID-19 on PCI procedures. Also, there have been low double-digit organic declines in RGR with sales of ventilators declining in the high-fifties as demand returns to pre-pandemic levels.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Equinor ASA (EQNR), Sony Group Corporation (SONY), and Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT).

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>>>