The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Apple Inc., Johnson & Johnson and McDonald's Corp

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – January 17, 2022 – 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. AAPL, Johnson & Johnson JNJ and McDonald's Corp. MCD.

Q4 Earnings Update and Analyst Reports for Apple, J&J and McDonald's

The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features a real-time update on the Q4 earnings season, in addition to new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Apple Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and McDonald's Corporation. 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 >>>

Q4 Earnings Season Scorecard

The big banks kicked off the Q4 reporting cycle for the Finance sector, with the market underwhelmed with the JPMorgan (JPM) results, but appreciating Wells Fargo's (WFC) improving financials.

JPMorgan's Q4 earnings aren't bad, but the stock had a pretty good run ahead of these results and it would have been very difficult for the quarterly report to build on that momentum.

In other words, the reaction of bank stocks to the quarterly numbers should be seen more in a sell-the-news type of framework than anything fundamentally wrong with the results.

Including this morning's bank results, we now have Q4 results from 26 S&P 500 members or 5.2% of the index's total membership. Total Q4 earnings for these 26 index members are up +19.2% from the same period last year on +11.7% higher revenues, with 88.5% beating EPS estimates and 84.6% beating revenue estimates.

It is still very early in the Q4 reporting cycle, but it is a higher beats percentage for these 26 index members relative to what we saw in the preceding reporting cycle.

The reporting cycle ramps up in a major way next week, with more than 90 companies on the docket to come out with Q4 results, including 37 S&P 500 members. Finance companies dominate this week's reporting docket.

Today's Featured Analyst Reports

Shares of Apple have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past year (+36.3% vs. +26.1%), with the stock benefiting from robust momentum in the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Wearables as well as an expanding App Store ecosystem.

Apple’s Services and Wearables businesses are expected to drive top-line growth in fiscal 2022 and beyond. Momentum in the Services business, strong adoption of Apple Pay and growing Apple Music subscriber base are other catalysts for growth. Supply chain constraints due to industry-wide silicon shortages, COVID-related manufacturing disruptions as well as supply chain constraints remain as the major headwinds, though.

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

Johnson & Johnson shares have gained +5.3% over the past three months against the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry’s gain of +9.2%. The Zacks analyst believes that J&J’s Pharma unit has been performing at above-market levels on the back of successful label expansion of blockbuster drugs, Imbruvica, Darzalex and Stelara.

Sales in the pharmaceutical segment rose 11.3% in the first nine months of 2021 on an organic basis despite the coronavirus pandemic. J&J has a positive record of earnings surprises in the recent quarters. It has also been making rapid progress with its pipeline and line extensions with several pivotal data readouts expected this year. Generic competition, pricing pressure continue and several litigations, however, remain as the major concerns.

(You can read the full research report on Johnson & Johnson here >>>)

Shares of McDonald's have gained +11.6% in the last six months against the Zacks Restaurants industry’s loss of -6.1%. The Zacks analyst believes that McDonald's efforts to strengthen its position through various sales initiatives along with increased focus on franchising bode well.

Robust drive-thru presence, as well as investments in delivery and digitization over the past few years have helped it counter the pandemic. By mid-2022, MCD expects to have a loyalty program in the top six markets. It has been making every effort to drive growth in international markets. Pandemic-related woes persist, softening the economy, and a spike in COVID cases has weighed on MCD’s margins lately.

(You can read the full research report on McDonald's here >>>)

Infrastructure Stock Boom to Sweep America

A massive push to rebuild the crumbling U.S. infrastructure will soon be underway. It’s bipartisan, urgent, and inevitable. Trillions will be spent. Fortunes will be made.

The only question is “Will you get into the right stocks early when their growth potential is greatest?”

Zacks has released a Special Report to help you do just that, and today it’s free. Discover 5 special companies that look to gain the most from construction and repair to roads, bridges, and buildings, plus cargo hauling and energy transformation on an almost unimaginable scale.

Download FREE: How to Profit from Trillions on Spending for Infrastructure >>

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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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Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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