Yahoo Finance The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights HCA Healthcare, Booz Allen Hamilton, GATX, NXP Semiconductors and MSCI
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – February 7, 2023 – 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: ConocoPhillips COP, Medtronic plc MDT, PayPal Holdings, Inc. PYPL, Mondelez International, Inc. MDLZ and The Hershey Co. HSY.
Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:
Top Stocks for ConocoPhillips, Medtronic and PayPal
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 ConocoPhillips, Medtronic plc and PayPal Holdings, 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 >>>
ConocoPhillips’ shares have outperformed the Zacks Oil and Gas - Integrated - U.S. industry over the past six months (+15.5% vs. +13.5%). The company holds bulk acreages in the unconventional plays of Eagle Ford shale, Permian Basin and Bakken shale. Significant opportunities are there for the firm in the Bakken Shale, where it owns about 750 undrilled locations that could provide access to huge reserves.
COP projects its 2022 production at 1.74 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MMBoe/d), suggesting an increase from 1.6 MMBoe/d last year. COP’s balance sheet is significantly less leveraged than the industry it belongs to. Also, it approved a $20-billion increase in the existing share repurchase program to $45 billion.
However, COP is highly exposed to oil price fluctuations, which makes things challenging for the company. Also, it been generating lower dividend yields than the industry over the past few years. As such, the stock warrants a cautious stance.
(You can read the full research report on ConocoPhillips here >>>)
Shares of Medtronic have declined -14.6% over the past year against the Zacks Medical - Products industry’s decline of -35.2%. The company’s innovations and market expansion efforts are helping it offset the impact of the high inflation and supply disruptions. The Zacks analyst believes in fiscal 2024, adjusted earnings are expected to grow 1.5% on 2.9% growth in revenues.
However, Medtronic is strategically expanding its global presence to address the unmet demand for advanced medical technologies. We expect Medtronic to register an international sales CAGR of 1.5% through 2025. Within cardiovascular, Medtronic is gaining market share, banking on product launches. Within MedSurg, Medtronic is scaling production of Hugo RAS.
Medtronic’s strong liquidity position should allow it to meet its near-term debt obligations. All these factors support our bullish stance on the stock.
(You can read the full research report on Medtronic here >>>)
Shares of PayPal have declined -29.5% over the past year against the Zacks Internet - Software industry’s decline of -31.0%. The company trimmed its guidance for revenue growth in anticipation of an economic downturn, which might slow down consumer spending. Further, intensifying market competition and foreign exchange headwinds remain risks.
However, PayPal is benefiting from growing total payments volume owing to increasing net new active accounts. Strengthening customer engagement on the company’s platform is a major positive. Further, Venmo’s improving monetization efforts and rising adoption rate across various platforms are aiding the total active accounts growth.
Solid momentum across core peer to peer, merchant services, PayPal Checkout experiences remains a tailwind. We believe accelerating transaction revenues of PayPal are likely to continue driving revenues. Considering the above-mentioned facts, we expect net revenues in 2022 to rise 8.4% from 2021.
(You can read the full research report on PayPal here >>>)
Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Mondelez International, Inc. and The Hershey Co.
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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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ConocoPhillips (COP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Medtronic PLC (MDT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Hershey Company (The) (HSY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Mondelez International, Inc. (MDLZ) : Free Stock Analysis Report
PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
