For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – December 15, 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: Verizon Communications Inc.
VZ
, Honeywell International Inc.
HON
, CVS Health Corp.
CVS
, Intuit Inc.
INTU
and Incyte Corp.
INCY
.
Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:
Top Research Reports for Verizon, Honeywell and CVS Health
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 Verizon Communications Inc., Honeywell International 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 >>>
Verizon
shares have underperformed the broader market (-27.1% vs. -17% for the S&P 500 index) and rival AT&T (
T
) (-22.2%) this year, with weak guidance at the last quarterly relase adding to the negative momentum. An intensely competitive market and hefty expenses on promotions and lucrative discounts to attract customers are likely to hurt profitability. Spectrum crunch with a saturated wireless market is another headwind.
However, Verizon plans to accelerate the availability of the 5G Ultra-Wideband network with C-Band deployment, focusing on 5G mobility, nationwide broadband, mobile edge compute and business solutions. It is offering various mix-and-match pricing in both wireless and home broadband plans.
Verizon is also aggressively expanding its fiber optics network to support 4G LTE, 5G wireless standards and wireline connections. Customer-focused planning, disciplined engineering and continued network upgrades will likely augment its market position.
(You can
read the full research report on Verizon here >>>
)
Honeywell
shares have outperformed the Zacks Diversified Operations industry over the past year (+2.5% vs. -15.2%) on the back of recovery in commercial flight hours, strong fire products and building management system sales, strong demand in the marine products business and strength in gas processing orders.
Following a strong third quarter, the company improved its earnings guidance for 2022. Pricing actions and cost-control measures support the company’s margins. Strong free cash flow generation capacity supports the company’s shareholder-friendly activities.
However, volume softness due to supply-chain disruptions, especially semiconductors and parts shortages, is concerning. Weakness in the Safety and Productivity Solutions unit due to lower personal protective equipment and warehouse automation volumes is also worrisome. Raw material cost-inflation and adverse foreign currency movements are other headwinds.
(You can
read the full research report on Honeywell here >>>
)
CVS Health
shares have been standout performers this year, outperforming the broader market (-1.9% vs. -17% for the S&P 500 index) and rival Walgreens Boots Alliance (
WBA
– down -21.4%), reflecting CVS’ robust sales growth across all three operating segments drove the top-line results.
Within the Health Care Benefits arm, the continued growth across the entire range of insured and self-insured medical, pharmacy, dental and behavioral health products and services instills optimism. The raised EPS guidance for 2022 is indicative of this growth momentum continuing.
However, the contraction of margins on escalating costs does not bode well. The decline in COVID-19 vaccinations and testing sales is a downside. Further, persistent pharmacy reimbursement headwinds also continued to impact business performance in the quarter under review.
(You can
read the full research report on CVS Health here >>>
)
Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Intuit Inc. and Incyte Corp.
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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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