The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: IBM, Honeywell, American Express, CSX, Progressive

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – April 23, 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: IBM IBM, Honeywell HON, American Express AXP, CSX Corp CSX and Progressive Corp PGR.

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Top Stock Reports for IBM, Honeywell and American Express

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 IBM, Honeywell and American Express. 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 >>>

IBM’s shares have underperformed the broader market in the last year, losing -3.8% vs. the S&P 500’s +8.3% gain. The Zacks analyst thinks IBM is benefiting from operating efficiency, cost cutting and lower share count.

Moreover, the company’s improving position in the hosted cloud, security, blockchain and analytics domains bodes well. IBM is witnessing growth in industry verticals like health, retail and banking. Solid adoption of Watson Health and broad-based growth in Payer, Provider, Imaging and Life Sciences domains is notable.

However, the Storage hardware segment is facing stiff competition. Additionally, IBM’s ongoing business model transition to cloud is time-consuming, which is likely to be a headwind. Further, ballooning debt levels have been troubling IBM lately.

Shares of Buy-ranked Honeywell have outperformed the Zacks Diversified Operations industry in the past six months, gaining +12.3% vs. a +6.2% increase. In first-quarter 2019, Honeywell's earnings increased year over year and also exceeded expectations.

The Zacks analyst thinks Honeywell’s strength in its commercial aerospace, warehouse and process automation’s businesses as well as solid demand for its commercial fire and security products will boost revenues in the quarters ahead. Stronger sales volumes, increased productivity and ongoing commercial effectiveness actions will likely improve near-term profitability.

For 2019, Honeywell raised earnings guidance from $7.80-$8.10 to $7.90-$8.15 per share. A strong cash position and focus on rewarding shareholders handsomely through dividends and share repurchases will work in its favor. Also, the company has been witnessing solid activity on the earnings estimate revision front, reflecting bullish sentiment.

American Express’ shares are up +13% over the past year, outperforming the Zacks Financial Miscellaneous Services industry, which has declined -7% over the same period. American Express’ first-quarter earnings beat expectations and grew year over year, led by higher-than-expected billings and loan growth.

The Zacks analyst likes the company’s solid market position, strength in card business and significant opportunities from the secular shift toward electronic payments. It continues to witness strong loan growth and credit metrics. Its expanding presence in the business to business market and investment in technology should drive long term growth. However, it faces an increase in reward expenses, led by enhancements of its U.S. platinum products.

Cost of card member services has been increasing over the past three years and it continued to elevate this year as well, reflecting higher engagement levels across its premium travel services. It has also been witnessing an increase in the provision of loan losses.

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include CSX Corp and Progressive Corp.

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

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CSX Corporation (CSX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
American Express Company (AXP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
The Progressive Corporation (PGR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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