The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Home Depot, Mastercard, McDonald's, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 02, 2017 – 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 Home Depot (NYSE:HD – Free Report), Mastercard (NYSE:MA – Free Report), McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Free Report), Raytheon (NYSE:RTN – Free Report) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC – Free Report).

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Analyst Reports for Home Depot, Mastercard and McDonalds

The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 12 major stocks, including Home Depot (NYSE:HD – Free Report), Mastercard (NYSE:MA – Free Report) and McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Free Report). 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 >>>

Home Depot’s shares have gained +5.9% in the last three months, compared with the +5.1% gain of the Zacks Retail Building Products industry. The company has been consistently gaining from its interconnected strategy, focus on Pro customers, and housing market recovery. These factors helped the company post a stellar second-quarter fiscal 2017 performance, which marked its highest ever quarterly sales and earnings.

Notably, sales marked its 13th straight beat, while earnings retained its 5-year long trend of positive surprise. Results were driven by solid growth across all regions, both in stores and online. Also, Pro category sales continued to outperform, driven by constant efforts to enrich customers’ experiences. The sturdy first half and expectations of improved home prices encouraged the company to raise its fiscal 2017 view.

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

Mastercard’s shares have gained +12.9% in the last three months, compared with the +7.5% gain of the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry. Revenue growth has remained strong and will continue to grow on the back of its strong market position and attractive core business that continues to be driven by new deals, renewed agreements and expansion of service offerings.

The acquisition of VocaLink and NuData Security, complement the company’s efforts to participate in new payment flows and enhance its safety and security offerings. The stock has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings being revised 1.8% upward over the last 60 days.

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

Shares of Buy-rated McDonald’s have gained +1.7% in the last three months, compared with the -3.3% dip of the Zacks Restaurants industry. Increased focus on delivery, enhancement of digital capabilities, and accelerated deployment of Experience of the Future restaurants in the U.S should drive growth, too. Efforts to attract customers in International Lead & High Growth Markets also bode well.

In fact, global comps at McDonald’s have been positive over the past eight quarters. Yet, high labor costs and currency headwinds might keep profits under pressure. Also, political and economic unrest in some parts of the world and a not so enticing U.S. restaurant space might restrict sales growth.

(You can read the full research report on McDonald’s here >>>).

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Raytheon (NYSE:RTN – Free Report) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC – Free Report).

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About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year.See these high-potential stocks free >>.

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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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Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Home Depot, Inc. (The) (HD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Raytheon Company (RTN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
McDonald's Corporation (MCD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Mastercard Incorporated (MA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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