Friday, July 1, 2016

This write-up features research reports issued by our team of analysts on 16 stocks, which we hand-picked from the roughly 80 research reports published by the team today. We are highlighting 6 of those stocks here, including Huntington Ingalls (HII), Wendy’s (WEN) and Eli Lilly (LLY).

Shares of defense contractor Huntington Ingalls, the sole designer and manufacturer of nuclear powered aircraft carriers in the U.S, have chalked up strong gains over the first half of the year. The analyst likes this Zack Rank # 2 (Buy) stock for its strong cash flows,  solid financial profile and disciplined capital spending program. The company's focus on shareholder returns, through dividends and buybacks, is another positive. (You can read the full research report on HII here.)

Wendy’s shares have struggled lately. But estimates have started going up, likely in response to management's initiatives like menu innovation, international expansion and re-imaging efforts. The analyst likes Wendy's transition to a franchise-oriented business following the Arby sale given lower capex needs, reduced expenses and higher returns. (You can read the full research report on WEN here.)

Eli Lilly is the quintessential bluechip pharmaceutical player with a wide range of products that serve a vast number of therapeutic areas. The analyst likes the fact that it has been working on building its pipeline and has a wide range of compounds in different stages of development. Further, despite a major part of its top-lineexposed to generic competition over the last few years, Lilly remains committed to its dividend.(You can read the full research report on LLY here.)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Oracle (ORCL), Carnival (CCL) and FedEx (FDX).

• Oracle (ORCL) Loses $3B Lawsuit
• Lower Guidance Pushes Carnival (CCL) Down to Zacks Rank # 4 (Sell)
• FedEx’s (FDX) Q4 Earnings Impress   

You can find all of today's stock research reports here.

Sheraz Mian

Director of Research

Note: Sheraz Mian regularly provides earnings analysis on Zacks.com and appears frequently in the print and electronic media. His weekly earnings related articles include Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview. He also provides weekly commentary to Zacks Premium subscribers and manages the Zacks Focus List and Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolios. If you want an email notification each time Sheraz publishes a new article, please click here.