The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Home Depot, Toyota, International Business Machines, Merck and CVS Health

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – April 14, 2021 – 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: The Home Depot, Inc. HD, Toyota Motor Corporation TM, International Business Machines Corporation IBM, Merck & Co., Inc. MRK and CVS Health Corporation CVS.

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Research Reports for Home Depot, Toyota and IBM

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 The Home Depot, Toyota, and International Business Machines. 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 >>>

Shares of The Home Depot have modestly underperformed the Zacks Retail Building Products industry over the past year (+54.8% vs. +62.8%), though they have been standout performers otherwise. The Zacks analyst believes that the company's interconnected retail strategy and underlying technology infrastructure have helped boost web traffic in fiscal 2020.

During the fourth-quarter fiscal 2020, the company witnessed continued strong demand for home improvement projects. Also, broad-based strength across its business and geographies led to comparable sales growth.

However, the company has been witnessing soft margins trend on higher expenses. Negative product mix and pressures from higher transportation costs have been headwinds. It also provided a lower-than-expected view for fiscal 2021.

(You can read the full research report on The Home Depot here >>>)

Toyota shares have gained +17.2% over the last six months against the Zacks Foreign Automotive industry's gain of +26.1%. The Zacks analyst believes that partnership with Subaru and Mazda is likely to drive Toyota's electrification plans. Collaboration with Hino, Aurora, Uber and Pony.ai also augur well for the firm.

Meanwhile, the auto giant from Japan has an array of brands including Toyota, Lexus and Scion, which position it for solid prospects. The upward revision of Toyota's fiscal 2021 view is encouraging. The company now projects 2021 operating income to be ¥2,000 billion, up from the prior estimate of ¥1,300 billion.

The firm's sharp focus on electric vehicles (EVs) and driverless cars offer ample growth visibility. Toyota targets to achieve 40% of global sales from EVs by 2025 and nearly 70% by 2035.

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

Shares of IBM have gained +1.4% in the past three months against the S&P 500's gain of +9.4%. The Zacks analyst believes that strong patent portfolio and solid uptake of IBM's cloud-based solutions, blockchain, security, and digital transformation offerings bode well for the company.

Furthermore, synergies from the Red Hat buyout are strengthening its competitive position in the hybrid cloud market. The company is also poised to gain from spin-off of legacy infrastructure services business as it focuses on its hybrid cloud strategy.

However, intense competition in the cloud computing market from Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure remains a major headwind. Additionally, higher current debt levels amid extensive restructuring activities are other concerns.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Merck and CVS Health.

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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International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
The Home Depot, Inc. (HD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Toyota Motor Corporation (TM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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