The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Morgan Stanley, Kraft Heinz, Lockheed Martin, Hershey's and Discovery Financial

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – Jan 02, 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 Morgan Stanley MS, Kraft Heinz KHC, Lockheed Martin LMT, Hershey’s HSY and Discovery Financial DFS.

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Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Stock Reports for Morgan Stanley, Kraft Heinz and Lockheed Martin

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 Morgan Stanley, Kraft Heinz and Lockheed Martin. 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 >>>

Morgan Stanley’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Investment Banking industry, over the last twelve months (+24.6% vs. +20.3%). The performance was supported by the company’s impressive earnings surprise history, having surpassed expectations in all the trailing four quarters.

The Zacks analyst likes the company’s efforts to lower balance sheet risk, strengthen wealth management operations and reduce costs (Project Streamline) and believes these initiatives will continue to support profitability. Given a solid capital position, it will likely enhance shareholder value through efficient capital deployment activities.

However, continued fall in net interest income despite rise in interest rates remains a matter of concern. Also, overall trading woes are expected to hurt the company’s bottom-line growth in the near term.

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

Shares of Kraft Heinz have declined -10.8% year to date, underperforming the Zacks Diversified Food industry which is down -4.7% during the same period, owing to continued softness in sales. However, Kraft Heinz’s cost savings have led to better profits amid a soft sales environment.

The company expects between $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion of cumulative Integration Program savings by the end of 2017, primarily focused on work-force reductions, factory closures and consolidations. Also, with growing awareness of the nutritional value of food products, the company is emphasizing on organic ingredients, reshaping its existing products and expanding into new categories.

However, the trend in current quarter and year earnings estimate revisions is not satisfactory as it has remained stable over the past 30 days.

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

Lockheed Martin’s shares have gained +28.9% over the past year, underperforming the Zacks Aerospace Defense sector, which has gained +45.3% over the same period. However, the Zacks analyst emphasizes that being the largest defense contractor in the world, Lockheed Martin witnesses strong demand for its high-end military equipment in both domestic as well as overseas markets.

Strong order growth has been a primary growth driver for this company. The latest $7 billion deal for the sustainment of F-22 air vehicle is one such order. An encouraging defense budget proposed by Trump government further buoys optimism for the stock's growth.

However, the F-35 program, despite being a prime defense project for the U.S. government, has been facing criticism for being overtly expensive for the past few years. Moreover, the company's limited commercial exposure and almost complete government dependence may prove fatal in maintaining its margins and bottom line.

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

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Hershey’s and Discovery Financial.

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

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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Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Discover Financial Services (DFS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Morgan Stanley (MS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Hershey Company (The) (HSY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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