Thursday, February 9, 2023

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 Abbott Laboratories (ABT), The Boeing Company (BA) and Diageo plc (DEO). 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 Abbott Laboratories have declined -13.7% over the past year against the Zacks Medical - Products industry’s decline of -37.7%. The company’s numbers declined on a year-over-year basis in the latest quarterly release, with sales were negatively impacted by a decline in COVID testing-related sales. Moreover, the decline in U.S. infant formula sales due to manufacturing disruptions dented the quarter’s sales further.

However, Abbott exited the fourth quarter of 2022 with better-than-expected earnings and revenues. Excluding COVID testing sales, worldwide Diagnostics sales grew over 11% led by rapid diagnostics. Within EPD, sales increased 8% organically in the fourth quarter led by double-digit growth across several countries.

Meanwhile, the Diabetes Care business continued to benefit from the growing sales of its flagship, sensor-based continuous glucose monitoring system, FreeStyle Libre.

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

Shares of Boeing have declined -2.4% over the past year against the Zacks Aerospace - Defense industry’s decline of -7.4%. The company’s 737 MAX program remains a cause of concern in China, thus impacting its expectation of delivery timing and future gradual production rate increases.

Its arch-rival, Airbus, remained quite a step ahead in terms of commercial deliveries during the fourth quarter of 2022. The Russia-Ukraine crisis poses risk for Boeing. However, Boeing remains the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States, in terms of revenue, orders and deliveries.

Lately, the company has been witnessing solid recovery in its commercial business. The outlook for its defense business also remains optimistic. It holds a strong solvency position in the near term.

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

Diageo shares have underperformed the Zacks Beverages - Alcohol industry over the past year (-15.6% vs. -9.5%). The company is facing continued inflationary pressures from increased glass, ocean freight and other transportation costs, and currency headwinds are concerning.

Nevertheless, Diageo’s organic operating margin expansion, productivity savings and favorable currency impact aided Diageo’s first-half fiscal 2023 results. Effective marketing and exceptional commercial execution further aided the results. Price/mix gained from a positive mix due to the robust growth in super-premium-plus brands, particularly scotch, tequila and Chinese white spirits.

DEO’s margin trends were favorable in the first half, thanks to the its premiumization efforts, recovery in markets, pricing actions and supply productivity savings, which mostly offset the cost inflation. The company retained its optimistic view for the medium to long term.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Lam Research Corporation (LRCX), América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V. (AMX) and Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX).

Director of Research

Sheraz Mian

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>>>