Friday, February 23, 2024

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 Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) and Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM). 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 >>>

Toyota Motor’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Automotive - Foreign industry over the past six months (+44.0% vs. +26.6%). The company’s robust lineup of trucks and sport utility vehicles are set to fuel Toyota’s sales volumes. Its electric vehicle (EV) push is a major tailwind.

The Japanese auto giant aims to generate 40% of its global sales from EVs by 2025 and 70% by 2030. It aims to expand global sales of BEVs to 1.5 million units in 2026. Upbeat projections for profit and revenues for fiscal 2024 spark optimism.

However, labor cost inflation is expected to continue to weigh on the company’s margins. High capex and R&D expenses for the development of electric and high-tech vehicles are likely to dent its near-term margins and cash flows. TM expects sales in Japan to decrease amid the suspension of shipments of Daihatsu. The stock warrants a cautious stance for now.

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

Shares of AMD have outperformed the Zacks Electronics - Semiconductors industry over the past six months (+78.6% vs. +61.0%). The company is benefiting from portfolio strength and an expanding partner base. In cloud, server CPU revenues increased year over year and sequentially as North American hyperscalers expanded fourth Gen EPYC Processor deployments to power their internal workloads and public instances.

Amazon, Alibaba, Google, Microsoft and Oracle brought more than 55 AMD-powered AI, HPC and general-purpose cloud instances into preview or general availability in the reported quarter. Exiting 2023, AMD had more than 800 EPYC CPU-based public cloud instances available.

AMD is benefiting from the strong adoption of EPYC CPUs for inferencing workloads for smaller models like Llama 7B, as well as the power head nodes in large training and inference clusters. AMD expects gross margin to expand in 2024. However, weakness in the Gaming and the Embedded businesses is a headwind.

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

Qualcomm’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Wireless Equipment industry over the past six months (+44.5% vs. +28.1%). The company reported relatively healthy first-quarter fiscal 2024 results, with the bottom and top lines beating the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Qualcomm is likely to benefit from the multi-year Apple deal for 5G modems for iPhones and the launch of Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipsets with advanced AI features for mid-range smartphones. A solid momentum in IoT, healthy 5G traction and a diversified revenue stream are tailwinds. It is focusing on the seamless transition from a wireless communications firm for the mobile industry to a connected processor firm for the intelligent edge.

However, soft market conditions in China have resulted in lower-than-expected demand and elevated inventory levels. Weakness in the smartphone industry and cautious client approach are weighing on margins. Rising geopolitical conflicts and high debt burden are other headwinds.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI), Synopsys, Inc. (SNPS) and CME Group Inc. (CME).

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

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>>>