Thursday, December 15 2016

We are featuring fresh research reports on 16 major stocks in today's Research Daily, including reports on FedEx (FDX), Express Scripts (ESRX) and Mondelez (MDLZ). These reports were hand picked from the roughly 70 research reports issued by our analyst team today. You can see all of today's research reports here >>>>

FedEx shares have handily outperformed the broader market, the Zacks Air Freight industry as well as UPS shares in the year-to-date period (the stock is up +32.9% vs. +21.9% for UPS). The company's status as the package deliverer has made it a proxy for the secular growth in e-commerce. The full extent of FedEx's volume gains this holiday shopping season will not show up in the company's coming quarterly results, which come out on Tuesday next week (the Tuesday report will show results for the fiscal quarter ending on November 30th); we will see that in the following quarterly report. Estimates for the November quarter have modestly gone up lately, with the company expected to earn $2.92 per share in earnings on $14.9 billion in revenues, which represent year-over-year growth rates of +13% and +19.5%, respectively. (You can read the full research report on FedEx here>>)

Express Scripts shares have suffered year to date, losing -19.3%, on persistent macro concerns about drug pricing and other regulatory issues that haven't gone away even after the election. The Zacks analyst points out in the updated research report issued today that the market has likely already priced all these negatives. On the flip side, the analyst points out that Express Scripts stands to benefit from increased generic utilization, shift toward mail orders, strong specialty growth and an aging population. The company is focused on the development of both specialty drugs and generics, which are expected to account for 50% of the total drug spend by 2018. (You can read the full research report on Express Scripts here>>)

Buy-rated Mondelez shares have lagged this year - the stock is down -4.5% vs. +6.2% gain for the Zacks Food Preparation industry in the year-to-date period. The uncertain economic backdrop, particularly in emerging markets (about 80% of Mondolez's sales come from international markets), has been a headwind for the company's volumes and demand. The continued uptrend in the exchange value of the U.S. dollar isn't helping matters either. , losing 4.5%. Mondelez’s volumes have been hurt since 2014 by the elasticity impact from higher pricing and category weakness because of soft consumer demand. Moreover, with around 80% of its sales coming from the international markets, currency is a significant top-line headwind. However, estimates for the current year have moved up lately in response to management's concerted efforts to squeeze costs out of the operations and push margins higher. (You can read the full research report on Mondelez here>>)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Lockheed Martin (LMT), Estee Lauder (EL) and Medtronic (MDT).

Free Access: All Zacks Research Reports Starting today, you are invited to download in-depth analysis reports covering more than 1,000 of the most widely followed stocks. Valued at $25 each, they are yours to consult over the next 30 days absolutely free. They feature sensitive Zacks Rank information on each stock that you won't find anywhere else. See the reports free >>

Sheraz Mian

Director of Research

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