The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Intel, Altria, Stryker, Sherwin-Williams and Verisk

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL –June 12, 2019 – 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: Intel INTC, Altria MO, Stryker SYK, Sherwin-Williams SHW and Verisk VRSK.

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Stock Reports for Intel, Altria and Stryker

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 Intel, Altria and Stryker. 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 >>>

Intel’s shares have outperformed the Zacks General Semiconductor industry in the past year, losing -14.7% vs. a decline of -21.1%. The Zacks analyst thinks Intel is benefiting from rising demand for its higher performance products, both in data center and client domains. Strength in Xeon ASPs is a key catalyst.

Moreover, synergies from Mobileye acquisition and growing clout in ADAS market favor Intel’s growth prospects. Intel's strategy of expanding TAM beyond CPU to adjacent product lines like silicon photonics, fabric, network ASICs, and 3D XPoint memory is yielding results.

However, declining trend in PC shipments is detrimental to business prospects of Intel, which continues to depend substantially on PC sales. Also, weakness in demand from China and softness in NAND flash pricing trends, remain major concerns. Intensifying competition and pricing pressure from AMD remains a headwind.

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

Shares of Altria have lost -8.1% over the past three months, outperforming the Zacks Tobacco industry, which has declined -9.3% over the same period. The Zacks analyst stresses that the company is grappling with declining cigarette shipment volumes.

Stern FDA regulations, along with increased health consciousness are taking a toll on cigarette sales. During first-quarter 2019, domestic cigarette shipment volumes fell 14.3% year over year. Going forward, management expects cigarette industry volume to decline by 4-5%. Nevertheless, growing popularity of Smokeless products offers some respite. During the first quarter, revenues in the category improved nearly 2.9%.

To further bolster this unit, the company has made investments in JUUL and Cronos. Pricing also continues to drive the company’s revenues. It has also undertaken cost-reduction initiatives and plans to deliver annualized cost savings of nearly $575 million by the end of 2019.

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

Stryker’s shares have gained +20.7% in the past year, outperforming the Zacks Medical Products industry, which has increased +4.8% over the same period. The Zacks analyst thinks the company continues to gain from its core MedSurg unit which put up a strong show in the reported quarter.

Additionally, strength in flagship Mako platform continues to favor the company. Moreover, its K2M acquisition drove the core Neurotechnology & Spine unit in the quarter under review. Solid international growth also buoys optimism. Expansion in operating margins is a positive while strong outlook for 2019 is indicative of bright prospects.

Stryker exited the first quarter of 2019 on a solid note, with earnings surpassing the consensus mark and revenues increasing on a year-over-year basis. However, contraction in gross margin is a concern. Pricing pressure also continues to plague Stryker. Stiff competition in the MedTech space remains a headwind.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Sherwin-Williams and Verisk.

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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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Verisk Analytics, Inc. (VRSK) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Stryker Corporation (SYK) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
The Sherwin-Williams Company (SHW) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Altria Group, Inc. (MO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Intel Corporation (INTC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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