The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: United Parcel Service, Medtronic, Shopify, Square and U.S. Bancorp

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – June 2, 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: United Parcel Service, Inc. UPS, Medtronic plc MDT, Shopify Inc. SHOP, Square, Inc. SQ and U.S. Bancorp USB.

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Stock Reports for UPS, Medtronic and Shopify

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 United Parcel Service, Medtronic and Shopify. 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 United Parcel Service have outperformed the Zacks Transportation - Air Freight and Cargo industry in the year-to-date period (+27.4% vs. +24.9%). The Zacks analyst believes that United Parcel Service is being aided by a significant ramp-up in home deliveries amid the prevalent coronavirus pandemic. In fact, exponential e-commerce growth emerged as a huge booster for UPS amid this continued pandemic-ravaged scenario and is responsible for its earnings outperformance for four successive quarters.

The Zacks analyst is also impressed by UPS' efforts to reward its shareholders even in the current uncertain times. Strong free cash flow generation is another positive. The bullish sentiment surrounding the stock is evident from the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 earnings being revised upward over the past 60 days.

However, high operating costs are concerning. The COVID-induced weakness in the industrial sector is also a bane. Further, softness in business-to-business average daily volumes is likely to persist throughout 2021.

(You can read the full research report on United Parcel Service here >>>)

Medtronic shares have outperformed the Zacks Medical – Products industry in the last one-year period (+28.9% vs. +14.8%). In fact, Medtronic’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2021 earnings and revenues both were ahead of the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate. Each operating segment and geography registered strong year-over-year growth on an organic basis. The results reflected a strong recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on elective procedures that the company experienced in April 2020.

The Zacks analyst believes that the company is winning shares in an increasing number of its businesses. The quarter’s gross and operating margins showed stupendous improvement. Fiscal 2022 EPS and revenue guidance indicating strong growth buoys optimism.

On the flip side, the company’s performance continued to get dented by deferred procedures due to the pandemic, especially in the emerging markets.

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

Shares of Shopify have underperformed the Zacks Internet – Services industry in the year-to-date period (+12.2% vs. +25.9%). The Zacks analyst believes that higher investments on product development and fulfillment platform amid stiff competition in the e-commerce space are likely to limit margin expansion in the near term.

Nevertheless, Shopify’s first quarter results gained from e-commerce boom induced growth in the merchant base. Increases in buying of essentials due to another COVID-19 wave led stay-at-home wave has transformed digital commerce

Further, solid adoption of new merchant-friendly applications amid evolving retail environment, holds promise. Additionally, partnerships with TikTok, Walmart and Facebook are expected to expand merchant base, going ahead. Also, initiatives aimed at international expansion are noteworthy.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Square and U.S. Bancorp.

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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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Medtronic PLC (MDT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
U.S. Bancorp (USB) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Square, Inc. (SQ) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Shopify Inc. (SHOP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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