The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Home Depot, Starbucks, T-Mobile, Aflac and Ventas

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – June 18, 2019 – 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 HD,Starbucks SBUX, T-Mobile TMUS, Aflac AFL and Ventas VTR.

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Research Reports for Home Depot, Starbucks and T-Mobile

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 Home Depot, Starbucks and T-Mobile. 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 +21% over the past six months, outperforming the Zacks Retail Building Products industry’s +16.7% increase. The Zacks analyst thinks that this is attributable to a robust surprise trend that continued in first-quarter fiscal 2019. With this, it retained its five-year long trend of earnings beat, with positive sales surprise in nine of the last 11 quarters.

Results gained from strength in both Pro and DIY categories. The company’s efforts to provide an interconnected shopping experience to customers with localized and innovative products, and improved productivity also aided its quarterly performance.

However, the company reported soft comps in the fiscal first quarter, which lagged analysts’ expectations. Tough year-over-year comparisons owing to hurricane-related sales hurt comps. The company’s top-line performance in the first quarter was also hurt by adverse weather in February and deflation in lumber prices.

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

Shares of Starbucks are up +29.8% over the past six months, outperforming the Zacks Food & Restaurants industry, which is up +20.4% over the same period. The Zacks analyst thinks the momentum is likely to continue as the company reported solid second-quarter fiscal 2019 earnings and also raised its full-year view. Notably, earnings surpassed estimates in all of the trailing four quarters. Robust Americas and CAP comps too bode well.

Meanwhile, Starbucks' business is rapidly growing in China, courtesy of innovative store designs, local product innovations and the success of MSR program. Also, operating fundamentals such as solid global footprint, successful innovations, best-in-class loyalty program and digital offerings are encouraging.

Again, digital initiatives like mobile order/pay and delivery services can further stimulate robust sales trends. However, operating margin contraction over the past few quarters has been a major concern.

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

T-Mobile’s shares have outperformed the Zacks National Wireless industry over the past year, gaining +24.1% vs. +10.8%. T-Mobile received shareholder approval for its combination with Sprint. The Zacks analyst thinks this is a step forward in creating the New T-Mobile through which the wireless carrier intends to bring robust competition in the 5G era.

The New T-Mobile will have about 127 million customers and a strong closing balance sheet. T-Mobile has also collaborated with Ericsson and Nokia to accelerate the deployment of a nationwide 5G network. Its network expansion strategy continues to be superior to its rivals. However, a highly competitive and saturated U.S. wireless market remains a major headwind.

Intensifying competition is likely to limit its ability to attract and retain customers and may adversely affect operating results. T-Mobile launched several low-priced service plans which has enhanced its revenues but has failed to improve the bottom line significantly.

(You can read the full research report on T-Mobile here >>>).

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Aflac and Ventas.

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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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The Home Depot, Inc. (HD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Aflac Incorporated (AFL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Ventas, Inc. (VTR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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