Top Stock Research Reports For Microsoft, UPS, Alibaba & Others

Friday June 2, 2017

The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's version features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Microsoft (MSFT), United Parcel (UPS) and Alibaba (NYSE:BABA).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 >>>

Microsoft shares lagged the Zacks Tech sector through the fall, but have led the way over the last six months (up +20.3% versus +16.5%) on greater appreciation for the company's reorganization and repositioning. The Zacks analyst stress that Microsoft is benefiting from continuing enterprise strength, strong Office 365 adoption and robust penetration of Azure (the company's cloud offering). Further, the addition of LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) has improved the company's presence in the social media market. The recently announced Dies acquisition and investment in Flipkart are other positives. All in all, the company has emerged as a leader in the cloud space that promises momentum on a number of fronts. (You can read the full research report on Microsoft here >>>).

Shares of United Parcel gained +4.4% in the last one year, underperforming the Zacks Transportation-Air Freight industry’s gain of 7.4% in the period. Shares of UPS have lagged those of rival FedEx (NYSE:FDX), which have gained 21.1% in the same time span, by a substantial margin. United Parcel is still troubled by headwinds like higher costs and foreign exchange-related issues. But the Zacks analyst likes the company's efforts to reward shareholders. To this end, it hiked its quarterly dividend earlier this year. Moreover, United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS)'s expansion-related efforts raise optimism about the stock. (You can read the full research report on United Parcel here >>>).

Alibaba shares have outperformed the broader market as well as the peer e-commerce space over the last one year (it is up more than +61.9%), with the trend expected to remain in place given continued growth in its core e-commerce business and growing cloud computing services. The company’s fiscal fourth-quarter revenues beat expectations while earnings fell short. The Zacks analyst likes the company’s dominance in China's mobile commerce market, efforts to develop new products, international growth opportunities, strong financial position and growing cloud computing services. On the flip side, the need for continued infrastructure investments, growing competition and increasing competition from Tencent Holdings and Baidu remain major overhangs. (You can read the full research report on Alibaba here >>>).

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Goldman Sachs (GS), Aflac (AFL) and Nike (NYSE:NKE).

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Sheraz Mian

Director of Research

Note: Sheraz Mian heads the Zacks Equity Research department and is a well-regarded expert of aggregate earnings. He is frequently quoted in the print and electronic media and publishes the weekly Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview reports. If you want an email notification each time Sheraz publishes a new article, please click here>>>