The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Procter & Gamble, Eli Lilly, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Costco Wholesale and Shopify

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – June 17, 2020 – 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: Procter & Gamble PG, Eli Lilly LLY, Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO, Costco Wholesale COST and Shopify SHOP.

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Analyst Reports for Procter and Gamble, Eli Lilly and Thermo Fisher

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 Procter & Gamble, Eli Lilly and Thermo Fisher Scientific. 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 >>>

Procter & Gamble shares have outperformed the Zacks Soap and Cleaning Materials industry over the past year (+5.2% vs. -0.6%), with the momentum expected to continue on the back of successful efforts to make its cleaning and personal care products available during this crisis have helped bolster sales.

The company’s solid third-quarter fiscal 2020 earnings mark the continuation of its positive surprise trend. Further, earnings and sales improved year over year in the reported quarter on gains from significant sales increase, related fixed cost leverage and ongoing productivity efforts. Top line gained from organic sales growth, driven by rise in organic shipment volume and better pricing.

Total productivity cost savings aided core currency-neutral gross and operating margin by 130 bps and 240 bps, respectively. Further, it delivered adjusted free cash flow productivity of 113% in the fiscal third quarter. However, currency fluctuations remain concerning. Due to stronger headwind from foreign exchange rates, the company lowered its all-in sales view for fiscal 2020.

Shares of Eli Lilly have gained +12.9% over the past six months against the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry’s fall of -4.5%. This reflects Lilly’s strong presence across a wide range of therapeutic areas and boasts a strong diabetes portfolio. Lilly expects the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic to hurt its profits in 2020.

On the flip side, the Zacks analyst mentions that generic competition for several drugs, rising pricing pressure in the United States, and price cuts in some international markets like China, Japan and Europe will be some top-line headwinds in 2020.

Nonetheless, Lilly still expects revenue growth to be driven by higher demand for its growth drugs like Trulicity, Taltz, and others. Lilly is making significant pipeline progress with several positive late-stage data readouts scheduled for 2020. Lilly is also regularly adding promising new pipeline assets through business development deals.

Thermo Fisher’s shares have gained +15.1% over the past three months against the Zacks Medical Instruments industry’s rise of +22.9%. The Zacks analyst looks forward to Thermo Fisher’s agreement to acquire QIAGEN N.V. for $11.5 billion.

However, the coronavirus outbreak has massively disrupted the global supply chain. Two of the end markets registered loss in the first quarter, largely due to customer shutdowns in China. Thermo Fisher ended the first quarter with better-than-expected numbers.

The company’s end-market underlying growth performance was strong before the outbreak in China. Meanwhile, the company is optimistic about the progress related to its COVID-19 diagnostic test. In the first quarter, the company reported rapid uptake of these diagnostic kits.

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Costco Wholesale and Shopify.

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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/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Procter Gamble Company The (PG) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Shopify Inc. (SHOP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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