For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – November 18, 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: General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) , Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (OTC:SIEGY) , Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) , Honeywell International (NYSE:HON) and SAP (NYSE:SAP) .
Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:
“Smart Factory” Revolution Puts 4 Stocks in Focus
Growing adoption of breakthrough technologies is changing industry operations across the globe. Smart factories, with obvious financial benefits, are becoming the way for companies to effectively compete with their counterparts.
Let us, thus, focus on some stocks that could benefit from this trend.
The Future of Smart Manufacturing is Bright
The smart factory market is expected to see a CAGR of 9.8% between 2019 and 2024, according to a Markets and Markets report. The market is estimated to be valued at $153.7 billion in 2019.
In fact, the global economy could gain as much as $1.5 trillion to $2.2 trillion every year by 2023 from smart factories, a recent survey by the Capgemini Research Institute disclosed. The research institute surveyed one thousand executives from companies that have adopted smart factory initiatives.
According to Capgemini, smart factories are putting to use “digital platforms and technologies” in order to achieve “significant improvements in productivity, quality, flexibility and service.”
Needless to say, manufacturing companies could benefit from converting their current industrial units into smart factories.
Smart Factory is the Next Industrial Revolution
Delving deeper into the smart factory concept, the major reason any manufacturing unit can gain from it is the flexibility it offers. In a smart factory environment, systems can run autonomously and deliver self-optimized performance. Self-operating and evaluating systems are imperative to this concept.
A smart factory is an extremely digitized, connected production facility, which is powered by smart machines. A smart factory is essentially a combination of machinery, automation and optimization.
Now, in order to run autonomously, a system requires networking and Internet. This is where technologies such as cyber physical systems, IoT, cloud computing and cognitive computing come in. Companies such as General Electric Company are some of the key players in these spaces.
The entire concept of a smart factory rests on the fact that separate systems can not only function independently but also communicate effectively among themselves. In other words, it is an interconnected system of standalone subsystems.
While it is essential to learn how efficient smart factories are, investors also need to consider why smart factories are so vital and which end-user industries could benefit from them.
First, increased competition is a major reason for manufacturers to upgrade their factories. The rising demand for higher living standards among consumers today is reflected in their preference for better products. Second, steadily increasing world population is also driving demand.
This is why manufacturers need to raise their productivity while maintaining the quality of products. Smart manufacturing processes not only improve productivity but also uphold the expected level of finesse.
Smart factories could greatly boost productivity of industries such as food and beverages, oil and gas, energy and power, chemical, pharmaceutical and mining and metals.
In fact, feedbacks from companies that have already turned their manufacturing units into smart factories are largely positive.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft’s manufacturing unit in Amberg, Germany, is a key example of a well-planned smart factory. The plant witnessed increased productivity on workers’ ability to reprogram Siemens’ factory machinery in just 60 seconds, compared to two hours needed earlier.
In fact, the company’s productivity has increased tenfold with a 99.9% level of production quality.
Stocks in Focus
Investors might therefore want to take a look at stocks which carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) and could gain considerably from their engagement in the smart factory revolution.
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of da Vinci surgical systems and related instruments and accessories. The company dominates the robotics-assisted surgical domain with its da Vinci line.
Intuitive Surgical is one of the fastest-growing companies in healthcare that is set to revolutionize the manner in which surgeries are performed. Applications of the companies’ da Vinci surgical systems are slowly gaining momentum in healthcare and could witness large-scale implementation ahead.
The company carries a Zacks Rank #2. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Intuitive Surgical’s current-year earnings has risen 3.7% over the past 30 days.You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Honeywell International is a diversified technology and manufacturing company. The company introduced its Experion PKS Highly Integrated Virtual Environment (HIVE) in June 2019, which is a new approach for engineering and maintenance of industrial control systems. The company carries a Zacks Rank #3. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Honeywell International’s current-year earnings has moved up 0.7% over the past 30 days.
General Electric is a high-tech industrial company. The company's products and services include aircraft engines, power generation, oil and gas production equipment, medical imaging, financing and industrial products etc.
The company’s Proficy Manufacturing Execution Systems (Proficy MES) is an array of solutions that can transform manufacturing through insights and intelligence with the help of data integration, the industrial IoT, ML and predictive analytics.
The company carries a Zacks Rank #3. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for General Electric’s current-year earnings has risen 1.7% over the past 30 days.
SAPis an enterprise application software, and analytics and business intelligence company. The company offers SAP Digital Manufacturing Cloud, which, with a manufacturing execution system, improves operations visibility. The manufacturing execution system offers near real-time data and analytics.
The company’s SAP Manufacturing Execution simplifies manufacturing operations by monitoring, controlling and optimizing the production processes. The company carries a Zacks Rank #3. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SAP’s current-year earnings has climbed 1.8% over the past 30 days.
Free: Zacks’ Single Best Stock Set to Double
Today you are invited to download our just-released Special Report that reveals 5 stocks with the most potential to gain +100% or more in 2020. From those 5, Zacks Director of Research, Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.
This pioneering tech ticker had soared to all-time highs and then subsided to a price that is irresistible. Now a pending acquisition could super-charge the company’s drive past competitors in the development of true Artificial Intelligence. The earlier you get in to this stock, the greater your potential gain.
Media Contact
Zacks Investment Research
800-767-3771 ext. 9339
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.
SAP SE (DE:SAPG) (SAP): Free Stock Analysis Report
Honeywell International Inc. (HON): Free Stock Analysis Report
General Electric Company (GE): Free Stock Analysis Report
Siemens AG (DE:SIEGn) (SIEGY): Free Stock Analysis Report
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG): Free Stock Analysis Report
Original post
Zacks Investment Research