The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Microsoft, CVS, Boeing, Facebook and Sherwin-Williams

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – May 4, 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 Microsoft MSFT, CVS Health CVS, Boeing BA, Facebook FB and Sherwin-Williams SHW.

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Research Reports for Microsoft, CVS Health and Boeing

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 Microsoft, CVS Health and Boeing. 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 >>>

Microsoft’s shares have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past year (+40.8% vs. -0.4%). The Zacks analyst believes that Microsoft's fiscal third-quarter results benefited from momentum in Azure, impressive Teams user growth led by coronavirus-induced work-from-home wave and uptick in Surface devices.

Moreover, the company is benefiting from growing user base of its different applications like Office 365 commercial, and Dynamics. Azure’s expanding customer base remains a key catalyst. Furthermore, it is well poised to expand the total addressable market through acquisitions of GitHub and PlayFab.

However, weak job market and lower spend on advertising due to the coronavirus outbreak are likely to weigh on LinkedIn and Search revenues. Further, delays in consulting business contract renewals and supply chain constraints in China are anticipated to limit growth.

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

Shares of CVS Health have lost -12% over the past six months against the Zacks Retail Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry’s fall of -16.1%. The Zacks analyst believes that the company's year-over-year improvement in the top line in the last-reported quarter was fueled by strong growth in the Pharmacy Services segment, which benefited from the upside in specialty services.

The company’s recently-introduced Health Care Benefits segment, following the Aetna acquisition, also holds immense promise. Additionally, solid year-over-year Retail/LTC comparisons were impressive. Strong expansion of both margins further buoys optimism on the stock.

The expansions of MinuteClinics and HealthHUBs during the quarter are also encouraging. CVS Health ended the fourth quarter with better-than-expected numbers. However, the LTC business is facing some industry-wide challenges. Reimbursement risk continues to be a dampener.

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

Boeing’s shares have lost -56.9% over the past three months against the Zacks Aerospace & Defense industry’s fall of -28.7%. The Zacks analyst believes that increase in defense budget by the current U.S. government should act as a growth catalyst for defense players like Boeing.

Boeing’s first-quarter 2020 results were mixed. While its bottom line came in better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, its top line failed to meet the mark. Nevertheless, the company remains the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States.

However, global outbreak of COVID-19 coupled with the ongoing grounding of the 737 MAX jets has significantly impacted Boeing’s business. Particularly, lower 737 deliveries have been hurting its earnings and cash flow for past couple of quarters. Moreover, Airbus beat Boeing as the world’s largest plane maker, for the first time in last eight years in 2019.

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

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

5 Stocks Set to Double

Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth.

Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>

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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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Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
The Sherwin-Williams Company (SHW) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
The Boeing Company (BA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
CVS Health Corporation (CVS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Facebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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