Thursday, March 28, 2019

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 JPMorgan (JPM), Disney (DIS) and Citigroup (C). 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 >>>

JPMorgan’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Major Regional Banks industry in the past year (-9.5% vs. -10.8%). The company has an impressive earnings surprise history, having surpassed expectations in three of the trailing four quarters.

The Zacks analyst thinks expansion into new markets by opening branches, focus on strengthening credit card business, higher rates and improving loan balance will continue supporting its revenues. Also, the bank's steady capital deployment plans reflect a strong balance sheet position. However, dismal mortgage banking performance (owing to lower origination volume and refinancing activities) remains a major concern.

The company's significant dependence on capital markets revenues is another worry. These are expected to hurt the bank's fee income growth to an extent.

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

Shares of Disney have gained +9.8% over the past year, outperforming the Zacks Media Conglomerates industry’s gain of +6.7% during the same period. The Zacks analyst thinks Disney’s strong film slate will boost its Studio Entertainment segment results. Recently released Captain Marvel became the third-highest domestic release of all times in the month of March and the seventh highest MCU debut film.

Additionally, future releases including Avengers 4 may aid top-line growth. Moreover, with the completion of the Fox acquisition, Disney can strengthen its TV slate and expand its international presence and DTC offerings. Disney’s upcoming streaming service Disney+, supported by content strength from Disney and Fox, may give tough competition to Netflix and Amazon.

However, higher programming costs at ESPN and heavy investments in streaming services continue to hurt profitability. Moreover, softness experienced in tourism in China negatively impacted Shanghai Disney Resort results.

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

Citigroup's shares have outperformed the Zacks Major Regional Banks industry in the past three months (+16.7% vs. +6.8%). Also, the company possesses an impressive earnings surprise history, beating expectations in all the trailing four quarters.

The Zacks analyst thinks the company’s restructuring and streamlining efforts along with strategic investments in core business bode well for the long-term. Also, declining costs base supports bottom-line improvement.

Recently, the company entered the booming digital consumer payments industry, thereby expanding sources of revenues. Nevertheless, pending litigation issues might keep legal expenses elevated. Moreover, muted fee income growth, due to dismal performance of investment banking revenues, keeps its topline under pressure.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Intuitive Crown Castle (CCI), PNC Financial (PNC) and Twitter (TWTR).

Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019

In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?

Who wouldn't? Our annual Top 10s have beaten the market with amazing regularity. In 2018, while the market dropped -5.2%, the portfolio scored well into double-digits overall with individual stocks rising as high as +61.5%. And from 2012-2017, while the market boomed +126.3, Zacks' Top 10s reached an even more sensational +181.9%.

See Latest Stocks Today >>

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>>>