The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: JPMorgan, Deere, VMware, Principal Financial And Fortive

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – Dec 4, 2017 – 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 JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) , Deere (NYSE:DE) , VMware (NYSE:VMW) , Principal Financial (NYSE:PFG) and Fortive (NYSE:FTV) .

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Stock Reports for JPMorgan, Deere & VMware

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 JPMorgan, Deere and VMware. 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 >>>

JPMorgan’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Major Regional Banks industry over the past six months (up +26.5% vs. +18.1%). This price performance is backed by impressive earnings surprise history, with the company having surpassed expectations in all the trailing four quarters.

The Zacks analyst likes the bank’s efforts to control expenses. Combined with the improved rate scenario and rising loan demand, these initiatives should continue to benefit JPMorgan’s financials. Given its solid liquidity position, the company is expected to continue enhancing shareholder value through efficient capital deployment activities.

However, the company faces persistent fee income growth challenges, mainly due to slowdown in trading activities and dismal capital markets performance. Also, legal expenses are expected to continue lingering in the near-term.

(You can read the full research report on JPMorgan here >>>).

Shares of Strong Buy-rated Deere shares have surged +47.7% over the last one year, outperforming the Zacks Farm Equipment industry, which has gained +42.7% over the same period. Deere’s top and bottom lines witnessed year-over-year growth in fourth-quarter fiscal 2017, beating expectations on both counts.

Deere projects total equipment sales to climb nearly 38% year over year in first-quarter fiscal 2018 and 22% in fiscal 2018 compared with the year-ago periods. The Zacks analyst likes Deere’s disciplined cost management and continued investment in innovative technology and solutions.

Higher housing starts in the United States and an improving oil and gas sector bode well for the company. Recovery in the dairy and livestock sectors will drive growth in the EU28 region. Further, Deere’s acquisition of Blue River Technology and the pending Wirtgen acquisition remain tailwinds.

(You can read the full research report on Deere here >>>).

VMware’s shares have gained +52.6% year to date, outperforming the Zacks Software industry which is up +36.1% over the same period. VMware's strong third-quarter fiscal 2018 results can be attributed to robust performance of its product offerings like NSX, vSphere and vSAN.

The Zacks analyst thinks expanding product portfolio, partnerships with the likes of Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Samsung (KS:005930), Fujitsu, Pivotal, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) along with continuing enterprise deal wins will drive results in the rest of fiscal 2018. Moreover, aggressive share repurchase will support bottom-line. However, several of the growth engines that the company is relying on could take longer to yield results.

Heavy spending on R&D may weigh on its margins in the near future. Moreover, intensifying competition from Microsoft and Citrix Systems (NASDAQ:CTXS) remains a major headwind in the near term.

(You can read the full research report on VMware here >>>).

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Principal Financial and Fortive.

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Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1 Stock of the Day pick for free.

About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year.See these high-potential stocks free >>.

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