The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Apple, Bank of America, S&P Global, Workday and 3M Company
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – December 15, 2023 – 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: Apple Inc. AAPL, Bank of America Corp. BAC, S&P Global Inc. SPGI, Workday, Inc. WDAY and 3M Company MMM.
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
Earnings Season Update and New Reports for Apple, BofA and S&P Global
The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features a real-time update on the evolving earnings picture as the early Q4 results come in, in addition to featuring new research reports published by our team analysts today. These include updated research reports on Apple Inc., Bank of America Corp., S&P Global Inc. and many others. 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 >>>
Earnings Season Update
Adobe became the third S&P 500 company to release quarterly results that get counted as part of our 2023 Q4 earnings tally. The Adobe results were for the company's fiscal quarter ending in November, as were earlier results from AutoZone and Oracle.
A number of other bellwethers like Nike and FedEx will similarly be coming out with their respective fiscal November-quarter results, which will get counted as part of the 2023 Q4 earnings season tally. The Q4 reporting cycle will really get going with the JPMorgan results on January 12th, 2024. But we will have seen such early November-quarter results by almost two dozen S&P 500 members by the time JPMorgan reports.
For the three S&P 500 members that have reported such Q4 results, total earnings are up +16.3% from the same period last year on +6.7% higher revenues, with two out of the three (66.7% of the total) beating EPS and revenue estimates. This is comparable performance relative to what we had seen from this group of three index members in the preceding period.
Looking at Q3 as a whole, combining the actuals for these three S&P 500 members with estimates for the still-to-come companies, total earnings are expected to decline -0.1% from the same period last year on +2.3% higher revenues. This would follow the +3.5% earnings growth in the preceding period, which came after three back-to-back quarters of earnings declines.
Unlike the last two quarters, estimates for Q4 have been under pressure since the quarter got underway, with the current -0.1% decline down from +5.5% in early October at the start of the quarter. Estimates were largely stable in the comparable periods of the preceding two quarters. In this respect, the Q4 revisions trend represents a notable shift.
Today's Featured Analyst Reports
Apple shares have performed roughly in-line with the Zacks Tech sector (+44.3% vs. +44.5%) but have handily outperformed the S&P 500 index (up +21.3%). The company is benefiting from strong demand for the iPhone. Apple expects the iPhone's year-over-year revenues to grow on an absolute basis in first-quarter fiscal 2024.
Revenues for Mac are expected to significantly accelerate compared with the fourth-quarter fiscal 2023's reported figure. It expects the year-over-year revenue growth for both iPad and Wearables, Home and Accessories to decelerate significantly from the September quarter due to a different timing of product launches.
For the Services segment, Apple expects average revenues per week to grow at a similar strong double-digit rate as it did during the September quarter. It is benefiting from increasing customer engagement in the services segment. The expanding content portfolio of Apple TV+ aids subscriber growth.
(You can read the full research report on Apple here >>>)
Shares of Bank of America have gained +4.0% over the past year against the Zacks Banks - Major Regional industry's gain of +13.2%. Higher interest rates and decent loan demand will keep supporting the company's net interest income (NII) growth in the upcoming quarters.
Yet, the current tough macroeconomic environment will continue to weigh on the company's investment banking (IB) business. This, along with the volatile nature of the capital markets, will likely hurt fee income. Due to inflationary pressure, overall costs are expected to remain elevated.
(You can read the full research report on Bank of America here >>>)
S&P Global shares have outperformed the Zacks Business - Information Services industry over the past year (+27.5% vs. +22.4%). The company remains well-poised to gain from the growing demand for business information services. Buyouts help innovate, increase differentiated content and develop new products.
New service launches have been aiding the company's growth. Dividend payments and share buybacks boost investors' confidence and positively impact earnings per share. Increasing the current ratio bodes well for the company.
However, S&P Global remains vulnerable to proceedings, investigations and inquiries concerning the ratings provided, leading to legal charges, damages or fines. Growth initiatives, higher compensations and incentives raise the company's expenses. More long-term debt than cash does not bode well for the company.
(You can read the full research report on S&P Global here >>>)
Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Workday, Inc. and 3M Company.
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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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Bank of America Corporation (BAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
3M Company (MMM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
S&P Global Inc. (SPGI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
