Chicago, IL – November 22, 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: Broadcom Inc. AVGO, Merck & Co., Inc. MRK, Qualcomm Inc. QCOM and Natural Health Trends Corp. NHTC.
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
Top Analyst Reports for Broadcom, Merck and Qualcomm
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 Broadcom Inc., Merck & Co., Inc. and Qualcomm Inc., as well as a micro-cap stock, Natural Health Trends Corp. These research reports have been hand-picked from roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.
You can see all of today’s research reports here >>>
Broadcom’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Electronics - Semiconductors industry over the last two years (+208.0% vs. +157.2%). The Zacks analyst believes that strong demand for the company’s networking products are suitable for addressing the needs of an increasing AI workload and the growing need for fast networking in data centers. The acquisition of VMware has also been a plus.
However, a highly competitive market and a relatively low customer base have remained causes for concern. Also, Broadcom’s frequent acquisitions, like that of VMWare, have escalated integration risks.
(You can read the full research report on Broadcom here >>>)
Merck’s shares have underperformed the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry over the past two years (-8.8% vs. +15.2%). The Zacks analyst believes that generic competition for several drugs and rising competitive pressure, mainly on the diabetes franchise, will continue to be overhangs for the company. Also, there are concerns about Merck’s ability to grow its non-oncology business ahead of Keytruda’s loss of exclusivity later in the decade.
Yet, with continued label expansion into new indications, particularly earlier-stage launches, Keytruda is expected to see continued growth. Animal health and vaccine products have also been core growth drivers.
(You can read the full research report on Merck here >>>)
Shares of Qualcomm have underperformed the Zacks Wireless Equipment industry over the past year (+21.0% vs. +43.2%). Per the Zacks analyst, a shift in the shares among OEMs at the premium tier has reduced Qualcomm's near-term opportunity to sell integrated chipsets from its Snapdragon platform.
Aggressive competition in the mobile phone chipset market is also likely to hurt Qualcomm's profits in the future. High operating expenses and R&D costs have remained a headwind. Qualcomm is also expected to face softness in demand from China.
However, with the accelerated rollout of 5G technology, it is benefiting from investments toward building a licensing program in the mobile space. The company formed a strategic collaboration with Google to develop Generative AI digital cockpit solutions.
(You can read the full research report on QUALCOMM here >>>)
Shares of Natural Health Trends have underperformed the Zacks Consumer Products - Discretionary industry over the past year (+1.8% vs. +21.4%). Per the Zacks analyst, a declining active member base remains the biggest concern for the company. It faces liquidity challenges and high operating expenses. Dependency on key markets and intense competition pose additional risks.
However, expansion into new markets and improvement in cost management bode well.
(You can read the full research report on Natural Health Trends here >>>)
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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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