The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Apple, Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon.com And Alphabet

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – February 25, 2019 – 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. (NASDAQ:AAPL) , Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) , The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) , Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) .

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Boeing Is the Best Blue-Chip Stock for Your Portfolio

Dow Jones Industrial Average is arguably the most important measure of U.S. equity prices. This is evident from a simple stat whereby everyday almost five times the number of Americans search for “Dow Jones” in Google compared with “S&P”. And when it comes to weightings, Apple Inc. (4.5%) and Microsoft Corporation (2.8%) easily falls short of The Boeing Company (10.9%). Notably, Amazon.com, Inc. and Alphabet Inc. isn’t listed in the Dow, which is a price weighted index.

So, logically Boeing is the most important blue chip stock and the biggest Dow component. Further, it is the best performing Dow stock this year by a wide margin. Thanks to its 10.9% weighting, Boeing had contributed more than 700 points to the Dow so far this year. Meanwhile, the next four big names including Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), IBM (NYSE:IBM), United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) and Home Depot (NYSE:HD) contributed only 225, 177, 157 and 133 points, respectively.

Boeing’s Shares Northbound

Going forward, Boeing’s shares are widely expected to rise as the firm frequently tops the list of government contractors. Additionally, the Trump administration’s interest to rebuild the U.S. military by bumping up Pentagon’s budget should certainly bode well for the company. Boeing’s expected earnings growth for the current year is 25.7%, way more than the Aerospace - Defense industry’s gain of 3.8%.

Further, Boeing has a market value of $230 billion and annual revenues worth of $100 billion. With claims of an order worth $500 billion, the company has secured its position in the near term.

Lest we forget that Boeing’s sales rose 8% to $101 billion last year and earnings per share increased a whopping 30%.

Boeing Continues to Enhance Shareholders Worth

Boeing has always improved shareholders wealth through dividend payments and share buybacks. The company has consistently paid quarterly dividends for the last eight decades and been increasing its dividend payout once every four quarters for the last seven years. In fact, Boeing’s quarterly dividends soared 389% in the last seven years.

In fact, the manufacturer of commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight and launch systems paid out $3.95 billion in dividends last year, almost triple the $1.26 billion it spent in 2011.

At the same time, Boeing initiated its first share buyback program in 2013. Since then, Boeing has repurchased $41 billion worth of its own shares.

Boeing: A Top Ranked Stock

Given the aforesaid positives, Boeing flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). In the past 60 days, nine earnings estimates moved north for the next year, while none moved in the opposite direction. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings rose 11.3% in the same period. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Boeing flaunts a Growth Score of B and has outperformed the broader industry on a year-to-date basis (+29.5% vs +22.8%).

Wall Street’s Next Amazon

Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.

Click for details >>

Media Contact

Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

support@zacks.com

http://www.zacks.com

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 http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.