Yahoo Finance The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Oracle, HSBC, RTX, Marsh & McLennan and Chipotle Mexican Grill
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – April 26, 2024 – 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: Oracle Corp. ORCL, HSBC Holdings plc HSBC, RTX Corp. RTX, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. MMC and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
Earnings Season Scorecard & Analyst Reports for Oracle, HSBC and RTX
The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features a real-time update on the Q1 earnings, in addition to the usual new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Oracle Corp., HSBC Holdings plc and RTX 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 >>>
Q1 Earnings Season Scorecard
Including this morning's reports from Caterpillar and others, we now have Q1 results from 190 S&P 500 members or 38% of the index's total membership. Total earnings for these companies are up +1.1% from the same period last year on +3.5% higher revenues, with 77.9% beating EPS estimates and 58.9% beating revenue estimates.
The EPS beats percentage of 77.9% compares to 80% for this group of companies in the preceding period and high-low range of 88.9% and 66.3%, with a 5-year average of 79.3%.
The revenue beats percentage of 58.9% for this group of 190 index members compares to 63.2% in the preceding period and the high-low range of the preceding 20 quarters of 86.3% and 58.9%, with an average of 69.1%.
What this means is that at this stage in the Q1 reporting cycle, the revenue beats percentage for this group of 190 companies is at the lowest level in the last 5 years.
Looking at Q1 as a whole, combining the actuals for the 190 companies that have reported with estimates for the still-to-come companies, total earnings are now expected to be up only +2.4% on +3.9% higher revenues.
For the current period (2024 Q2), total S&P 500 earnings are expected to be up +9.6% from the same period last year on +4.7% higher revenues.
Estimates have been steadily going up since the quarter got underway, with Energy, Transportation and Finance as among the 7 Zacks sectors enjoying favorable revisions trend since the start of April.
Today's Featured Analyst Reports
Oracle shares have outperformed the Zacks Computer - Software industry over the year-to-date period (+10.2% vs. +6.1%). The company is gaining from the ongoing momentum across its cloud business, driven by the strong uptake of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Autonomous Database offerings. The solid adoption of cloud-based applications, comprising NetSuite Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Fusion ERP bodes well.
Oracle's Gen 2 Cloud is delivering better performance at a lower cost due to high bandwidth and low-latency RDMA networks. ORCL's continued investment in cloud infrastructure positions it well for sustained growth in the dynamic software industry. The company's share buybacks and dividend policy are noteworthy.
However, higher spending on product enhancements, especially toward the cloud platform amid increasing competition in the cloud domain, is likely to limit margin expansion.
(You can read the full research report on Oracle here >>>)
Shares of HSBC have outperformed the Zacks Banks - Foreign industry over the year-to-date period (+7.0% vs. +3.3%). The company's strong capital position, higher interest rates, an extensive network and business restructuring initiatives will keep aiding it. HSBC's efforts to improve market share in the Asia region will support financials in the long run, this will likely lead to a rise in near-term expenses. Because of its growth strategy and higher technology-related expenses, HSBC expects 2024 expense growth of 5%.
However, HSBC has already exited retail operations in the United States, Canada, France, New Zealand and Greece and is in the process of fully exiting Russia. In order to focus more on Asia, the company is set to acquire Citigroup's wealth business in China. The current challenging macroeconomic backdrop is another major near-term headwind.
(You can read the full research report on HSBC here >>>)
Shares of RTX have outperformed the Zacks Aerospace - Defense industry over the past six months (+29.4% vs. -0.5%). The company ended first-quarter 2024 on a bright note, with both its sales and earnings surpassing their respective consensus estimate. RTX continues to receive ample orders from the Pentagon and its foreign allies for its wide range of combat-proven defense products.
A steadily recovering commercial air traffic is expected to bolster commercial OEM as well as commercial aftermarket sales for the company. RTX holds a solid financial position, which should enable it to make a successful share repurchase.
However, rising crude prices tend to put cost pressure on airlines, and operating results of commercial OEM producers like RTX may be impacted. The company might also be affected if China enforces its announced sanctions against RTX's missile and defense unit.
(You can read the full research report on RTX here >>>)
Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc..
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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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Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Oracle Corporation (ORCL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
HSBC Holdings plc (HSBC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
RTX Corporation (RTX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
