The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: AstraZeneca, salesforce, Mastercard, Lam Research and Koninklijke

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL –October 19, 2018 – 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: AstraZeneca AZN, salesforce.com CRM, Mastercard MA, Lam Research LRCX and Koninklijke Philips PHG.

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Analyst Reports for AstraZeneca, salesforce and Mastercard

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 AstraZeneca, salesforce.com and Mastercard. These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.

AstraZeneca’s shares have gained +8% year to date, outperforming the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry which has gained +3.2% over the same period. AstraZeneca’s newer drugs like Lynparza, Tagrisso and Brilinta should keep contributing to the top line while several launches are underway across each of the therapeutic areas, Oncology, CV metabolism and Respiratory.

Meanwhile, cost-cutting initiatives should drive the bottom line. AstraZeneca also has a promising late-stage pipeline that includes immuno-oncology candidates. Imfinzi is a key drug in the pipeline. The company has a positive record of earnings surprises in the recent quarters. Estimates have remained stable ahead of the company’s Q3 earnings release.

Nevertheless, AstraZeneca’s core products like Nexium, Crestor and Seroquel are facing generic competition, which is hurting sales growth. The diabetes franchise also faces stiff competition while pricing pressure is hurting sales in the Respiratory franchise.

Strong Buy-rated Salesforce’s shares have gained +38.9% so far this year, handily outperforming the Zacks Computer - Software industry which gained +19% over the same period. Salesforce’s diverse cloud offerings and strong spending on digital marketing remain the catalysts.

Management is extremely optimistic about enhancement of customer experience that has aided growth of the cloud segment.  Additionally, strategic acquisitions and the resultant synergies are anticipated to prove conducive to growth over the long run.

Furthermore, the company’s move of utilizing other data center operators like Amazon and Alphabet’s geographical reach to expand its international business is commendable and will help it in achieving its targeted $23 billion sales mark by 2022. However, stiff competition, currency fluctuations and an increase in investments for international expansions and data centers could negatively impact near-term profitability.

Shares of Mastercard have increased +37.3% over the past year, significantly outperforming the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry’s rally of +22.2%. The company is poised for growth, given its solid market position, ongoing expansion and digital initiatives plus significant opportunities from the secular shift toward electronic payments.

The buyouts of VocaLink and NuData Security complement efforts to participate in new payment flows, and enhance safety and security offerings.  The company has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 earnings being revised upward over the last 60 days. However, escalating costs, higher incentives and rewards will put pressure on its bottom line.

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Lam Research and Koninklijke Philips.

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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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AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Salesforce.com Inc (CRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (PHG) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Lam Research Corporation (LRCX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Mastercard Incorporated (MA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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