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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights NIKE, Airbnb, CVS Health, ONEOK and Arch Capital

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – February 14, 2024 – 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: NIKE, Inc. (NKE - Free Report) , Airbnb, Inc. (ABNB - Free Report) , CVS Health Corp. (CVS - Free Report) , ONEOK, Inc. (OKE - Free Report) and Arch Capital Group Ltd. (ACGL - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Q4 Earnings Scorecard and Fresh Analyst Reports

The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features a real-time update on the ongoing Q4 earnings season, in addition to fresh analyst reports on 16 major stocks, including NIKE, Airbnb, Inc. and CVS Health Corp. 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 >>>

Q4 Earnings Season Scorecard

Including all of this morning's results, we now have Q4 results from 351 S&P 500 members or 70.2% of the index's total membership. Total earnings for these companies are up +5.6% from the same period last year on +3.7% higher revenues, with 79.5% beating EPS estimates and 64.7% beating revenue estimates.

As we have noted all along in our earnings commentaries, the Q4 earnings and revenue growth rates represent an acceleration relative to what we have been seeing from this group of index members in other recent periods. The EPS beats percentages are roughly in-line with historical averages, though the revenue beats percentage is tracking towards the lower end of the range over the preceding 20-quarter period.

Looking at Q4 as a whole, combining the actual resutls for the 351 index members with estimates for the still-to-come companies, total earnings are on track to be up +5.5% on +3.2% higher revenues.

The Tech and Energy sectors are driving the Q4 growth pace in opposite directions, with the Energy sector dragging it down and the Tech sector giving it a boost. Excluding the Tech sector's contribution, Q4 earnings for the rest of the index would be down -1.7% instead of up +5.5% as a whole.

Today's Featured Analyst Reports

NIKE shares have modestly done better than the Zacks Shoes and Retail Apparel industry over the last six months (-0.4% vs. -5.7%). The Zacks analyst believes that continued progress on consumer direct acceleration strategy, compelling product innovation and digital leadership have driven the company’s business. Robust consumer trends, including momentum in the NIKE mobile app led by improved traffic and increased member buying frequency have aided the digital segment.

However, inflationary pressure and elevated expenses have been major headwinds.

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

Airbnb shares have outperformed the Zacks Internet - Content industry over the past year (+27.3% vs. +19.8%). The Zacks analyst believes that improvement in booked Nights and Experiences, increasing guest demand and continuous recovery from the pandemic years in cross-border travel are benefitting the company. Strength in active listings owing to supply growth across Asia Pacific and Latin America have also aided.

Yet, great volatility in travel demand due to macroeconomic uncertainties, rising competition and impacts of geopolitical conflicts remain major concerns.

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

Shares of CVS Health have outperformed the Zacks Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry over the past six months (+4.0% vs. -3.1%). Per the Zacks analyst, strong sales momentum across all three operating segments have been helping the company’s topline. New acquisitions and fresh launches like Cordavis are also likely to boost future growth.

However, decline in COVID-19 vaccinations and testing sales and persistent pharmacy reimbursement headwinds continue to impact business performance.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include ONEOK, Inc. and Arch Capital Group Ltd.

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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 https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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