The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Visa, PNC, SAP, Sanofi and Ross

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL –August 30, 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: Visa V, PNC Financial Services Group PNC, SAP SE SAP, Sanofi SNY and Ross Stores ROST.

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Research Reports for Visa, PNC Financial and SAP

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 Visa, PNC Financial Services Group and SAP SE. These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.

Visa’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry over the last year (+39.9% vs. +34.8%). The company is witnessing growth in payments volume, cross-border volume and processed transactions owing to a strong economy and a positive consumer sentiment driving higher spending.

Numerous strategic acquisitions and alliances, technology upgrades and effective marketing have paved the way for long-term growth and consistent revenue rise. Visa is well poised to gain from the growing electronic payment processing and a strong international business.

Given solid operational performance, management expects fiscal 2018 operating EPS to grow in low-30s on low double digits revenue growth. A solid balance sheet ensures effective capital deployment. Nevertheless, high client incentives might put pressure on revenues.

Shares of PNC Financial have underperformed the Zacks Major Regional Banks industry over the last six months, decreasing -6.3% vs. -0.1%. Yet, the company has an impressive earnings surprise history, having surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the trailing four quarters.

The Zacks analyst remains encouraged by the company’s efforts to generate positive operating leverage through its cost-saving initiatives. Also, its focus on enhancing shareholders’ value through strategic acquisitions is encouraging. Further, efforts to expand middle market lending franchise and investments in digital products and services bode well for the company.

Moreover, Fed's approval of 2018 capital plan depicts the bank's financial stability. However, PNC Financial’s exposure to risky loan portfolio remains a concern.

Shares of SAP have outperformed the Zacks Computer Software industry in the past six months, gaining +19.6% vs. +17.4%. SAP’s resilient Cloud and Software business, an enviable business network spread and dominance over critical client demand areas continue to act as staple growth drivers.

Solid adoption of SAP’s Human Capital Management (HCM) solution, SuccessFactors Employee Central and S/4HANA platform are expected to increase new cloud bookings, consequently bolstering top line. The company constantly upgrades the existing products and launches fresh ones to expand its customer base, consequently offering a competitive edge over peers.

However, inherent seasonality in clients’ technology spending exposes the company’s sales to risks of quarterly fluctuations. Currency fluctuations are also hurting its financial performance, particularly the Americas region.

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Sanofi and Ross Stores.

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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 PNC Financial Services Group, Inc (PNC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Sanofi (SNY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
SAP SE (SAP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Visa Inc. (V) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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