The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Alibaba, McDonald, Advanced Micro Devices, Abbott Laboratories, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – May 19, 2022 – 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:Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA, McDonald's Corp. MCD, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMDAbbott Laboratories ABT, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. VRTX.

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Stock Reports for Alibaba, McDonald's and AMD

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 Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., McDonald's Corp., and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.. 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 >>>

Alibaba shares have declined -27.3% in the year-to-date period, inline with the Zacks Tech sector's performance and better than Amazon's -33.5% decline. The uncertain outlook for Alibaba's home market given China's zero-Covid policy is exacerbating sentiment shifts in the market against growth stocks in a rising interest rate environment. While these are reasonable worries and they could very well weigh on the stock some more, the company's competitive position in the Chinese market has never been stronger.

Further, its robust New Retail strategy which is gaining strong traction in the market remains a major positive. This is aiding growth in Tmall Import, Freshippo and Intime Department Stores. Furthermore, well-performing Cainiao logistics services are contributing well. Additionally, the company's strengthening cloud business on the back of its expanding customer base continues to drive its performance.

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

Shares of McDonald's have outperformed the Zacks Retail - Restaurants industry over the past year (+4.4% vs. -16.8%) on the back of robust comps growth. The Zacks analyst believes that the strong drive-thru presence and its investments in delivery and digitization over the past few years have aided McDonald's in countering the pandemic. Robust digitalization will help the company in driving long-term growth and capturing market share.

The company is focusing on store expansion efforts. It is planning to open more than 1,800 restaurants globally in 2022. However, coronavirus-related woes persist. In first-quarter 2022, comps in the China market were hurt by the pandemic.

(You can read the full research report on McDonald's here >>>)

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices have outperformed the Zacks Electronics - Semiconductors industry over the past year (+34.5% vs. +25.2%). The Zacks analyst believes that the company is benefiting from the strong demand of its Ryzen and EPYC server processors, owing to the increasing proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in industries like cloud, gaming and data center. The growing clout of 7 nanometer (nm) products in the data center vertical, driven by work-from-home and online learning trends, is a key catalyst.

AMD provided strong 2022 guidance for revenues backed by robust growth across all businesses. Higher server and client processor revenues are likely to lead to a sequential increase. The Xilinx and Pensando acquisition will boost AMD's data center business. Alliances with Amazon, Microsoft, Baidu and JD.com augment business prospects. However, stiff competition from NVIDIA and Intel is a concern.

(You can read the full research report on Advanced Micro Devices here >>>)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Abbott Laboratories, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?

Our 5 best-performing strategies have blown away the S&P's impressive +28.8% gain in 2021. Amazingly, they soared +40.3%, +48.2%, +67.6%, +94.4%, and +95.3%. Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.

See Stocks Free >>

Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

support@zacks.com                       

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

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
McDonald's Corporation (MCD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research