We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Comcast, Philip Morris International, Lockheed Martin, Chevron and American Express
Read MoreHide Full Article
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – July 17, 2020 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Comcast (CMCSA - Free Report) , Philip Morris International (PM - Free Report) , Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) , Chevron (CVX - Free Report) and American Express (AXP - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
Q2 Earnings Scorecard & Top Stock Reports for Comcast, Philip Morris and Lockheed
The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily provides a real-time update on the Q2 earnings season and also features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Comcast, Philip Morris International and Lockheed Martin. These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.
Including all of this morning's reports, we now have Q2 results from 39 S&P 500 members or 7.8% of the index's total membership. Please note that these 39 index members combined account for 12.3% of the index's total market capitalization. The Finance sector companies that have reported already account for 33.1% of the sector's total market capitalization in the index.
Total Q2 earnings for these 39 index members are down -47.8% from the same period last year on -2.2% lower revenues, with 74.4% beating EPS estimates and 64.1% beating revenue estimates.
For the Finance sector, we now have Q2 results from 33.1% of the sector's total market capitalization in the S&P 500 index. Total earnings or aggregate net income for these Finance companies are down -58.5% from the same period last year on +5.2% higher revenues, with 76.9% beating EPS estimates and 69.2% beating revenue estimates.
Relative to what we had seen from the same group of Finance sector companies in 2020 Q1 and other recent periods, a bigger proportion of companies are beating EPS and revenue estimates. This suggests that Q2 estimates may have fallen more than needed, making it easy for companies to beat consensus estimates. We will see if this trend will continue going forward.
Comcast’s shares have underperformed the Zacks Cable Television industry over the past year (-6% vs. +6.7%). The Zacks analyst believes that Comcast is benefiting from solid high-speed Internet customer wins.
The company’s strategy to provide high-speed Internet at an affordable price plays a pivotal role in improving customer experience. Moreover, increased media consumption and work-from-home wave bode well for Comcast. Growing popularity of Xfinity and Flex products is a major catalyst. Peacock’s launch is a key catalyst.
However, Comcast persistently suffers video-subscriber attrition due to cord-cutting. The company’s theme park revenues are expected to suffer from lower footfall. It expects film results to decline substantially in the second and third quarters due to the rescheduling of Fast and Furious 9, as well as Minions 2 releases in 2021. Moreover, a leveraged balance sheet is a concern.
Shares of Philip Morris have lost -15.4% over the past six months against the Zacks Tobacco industry’s fall of -18.4%. The Zacks analyst believes that the company’s second-quarter show is likely to be hurt by lower duty-free sales and delay in minimum price enforcement in Indonesia stemming from coronavirus-led restrictions, among others
The stock further declined when management said that it expects coronavirus to be detrimental to 2020 performance, during its first-quarter 2020 earnings release. The company withdrew its 2020 earnings view and offered guidance for the second quarter, which is expected to bear the largest quarterly impact of COVID-19 this year.
Nonetheless, the company doesn’t expect facing any out of stock situation in core operating income markets. Also, its first-quarter earnings and sales grew year over year, reflecting continued momentum in the smoke-free portfolio and a solid combustible tobacco pricing.
Lockheed Martin’s shares have lost -8.9% over the past three months against the Zacks Aerospace Defense industry’s fall of -2.5%. The Zacks analyst believes that expansionary budgetary provisions made by the current U.S. administration will immensely boost this defense prime's business.
Lockheed Martin enjoys strong demand for its high-end military equipment in domestic and international markets, being the world's largest defense contractor. However, Lockheed Martin faces intense global competition for its broad portfolio of products and services. Furthermore, forced cost reduction initiatives for the F-35 program might hamper its operating results.
America and Turkey's tiff regarding the latter accepting Russian products may hurt Lockheed’s component supply from Turkey. It is also facing performance issues in relation to some of its products, which in turn may hurt its results.
Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Chevron and American Express.
Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential
The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.
Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit http://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
See More Zacks Research for These Tickers
Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:
Image: Bigstock
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Comcast, Philip Morris International, Lockheed Martin, Chevron and American Express
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – July 17, 2020 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Comcast (CMCSA - Free Report) , Philip Morris International (PM - Free Report) , Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) , Chevron (CVX - Free Report) and American Express (AXP - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
Q2 Earnings Scorecard & Top Stock Reports for Comcast, Philip Morris and Lockheed
The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily provides a real-time update on the Q2 earnings season and also features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Comcast, Philip Morris International and Lockheed Martin. 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 >>>
Q2 Earnings Season Scorecard
Including all of this morning's reports, we now have Q2 results from 39 S&P 500 members or 7.8% of the index's total membership. Please note that these 39 index members combined account for 12.3% of the index's total market capitalization. The Finance sector companies that have reported already account for 33.1% of the sector's total market capitalization in the index.
Total Q2 earnings for these 39 index members are down -47.8% from the same period last year on -2.2% lower revenues, with 74.4% beating EPS estimates and 64.1% beating revenue estimates.
For the Finance sector, we now have Q2 results from 33.1% of the sector's total market capitalization in the S&P 500 index. Total earnings or aggregate net income for these Finance companies are down -58.5% from the same period last year on +5.2% higher revenues, with 76.9% beating EPS estimates and 69.2% beating revenue estimates.
Relative to what we had seen from the same group of Finance sector companies in 2020 Q1 and other recent periods, a bigger proportion of companies are beating EPS and revenue estimates. This suggests that Q2 estimates may have fallen more than needed, making it easy for companies to beat consensus estimates. We will see if this trend will continue going forward.
Comcast’s shares have underperformed the Zacks Cable Television industry over the past year (-6% vs. +6.7%). The Zacks analyst believes that Comcast is benefiting from solid high-speed Internet customer wins.
The company’s strategy to provide high-speed Internet at an affordable price plays a pivotal role in improving customer experience. Moreover, increased media consumption and work-from-home wave bode well for Comcast. Growing popularity of Xfinity and Flex products is a major catalyst. Peacock’s launch is a key catalyst.
However, Comcast persistently suffers video-subscriber attrition due to cord-cutting. The company’s theme park revenues are expected to suffer from lower footfall. It expects film results to decline substantially in the second and third quarters due to the rescheduling of Fast and Furious 9, as well as Minions 2 releases in 2021. Moreover, a leveraged balance sheet is a concern.
Shares of Philip Morris have lost -15.4% over the past six months against the Zacks Tobacco industry’s fall of -18.4%. The Zacks analyst believes that the company’s second-quarter show is likely to be hurt by lower duty-free sales and delay in minimum price enforcement in Indonesia stemming from coronavirus-led restrictions, among others
The stock further declined when management said that it expects coronavirus to be detrimental to 2020 performance, during its first-quarter 2020 earnings release. The company withdrew its 2020 earnings view and offered guidance for the second quarter, which is expected to bear the largest quarterly impact of COVID-19 this year.
Nonetheless, the company doesn’t expect facing any out of stock situation in core operating income markets. Also, its first-quarter earnings and sales grew year over year, reflecting continued momentum in the smoke-free portfolio and a solid combustible tobacco pricing.
Lockheed Martin’s shares have lost -8.9% over the past three months against the Zacks Aerospace Defense industry’s fall of -2.5%. The Zacks analyst believes that expansionary budgetary provisions made by the current U.S. administration will immensely boost this defense prime's business.
Lockheed Martin enjoys strong demand for its high-end military equipment in domestic and international markets, being the world's largest defense contractor. However, Lockheed Martin faces intense global competition for its broad portfolio of products and services. Furthermore, forced cost reduction initiatives for the F-35 program might hamper its operating results.
America and Turkey's tiff regarding the latter accepting Russian products may hurt Lockheed’s component supply from Turkey. It is also facing performance issues in relation to some of its products, which in turn may hurt its results.
Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Chevron and American Express.
Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential
The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.
Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.
See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>
Media Contact
Zacks Investment Research
800-767-3771 ext. 9339
support@zacks.com
http://www.zacks.com
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit http://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.