Featured Research Center
Logged-in clients may click through to the pdf files of the following research reports. Financial Services/Banking Banking Industry Overview, Winter 2011 – Recent strength in bank stocks comes as economic concerns abate, and bank fundamentals continue to improve. Low expectations and historically low valuations should benefit the group; loan growth could prove a positive catalyst. 2011 Deposit Market Share Report – We believe robust deposit growth and market share gains are key drivers of shareholder value creation for banks. Deposits grew in all six U.S. regions for the period of June 2010-June 2011, and just over half of the banks in our coverage universe grew deposits. Healthcare 3Q11 Drug Channel Monitor - Script growth is at the lowest level since the recession-induced 1Q09 trends, with utilization remaining under pressure as unemployment stagnates at 9% levels. October trends show no change in underlying demand, November appears modest as well. Real Estate/Housing 2012 Housing Outlook – Entering 2012, we are optimistic that the U.S. housing market and the pace of new home sales will finally show real signs of improvement this year, after five years of steady deterioration. Yet, investors should not confuse our optimism for improvement this year with the cold reality that a true recovery is still likely years way. Homebuilding investors need to be nimble, in our view. Real Estate/REITs 2012 Multifamily Outlook – We recommend investors continue to overweight the multifamily sector in 2012. Multifamily rental conditions continued to improve across most of the country in 4Q11, setting the stage for further accelerations in revenue and NOI growth in 2012. We think valuations remain reasonable at this stage of a robust multifamily cycle, especially relative to current Treasury yields. Technology/Analog and Communications Semiconductors Analog and Communications Semiconductors Quarterly – Our bias on analog semiconductor stocks is modestly positive despite soft fundamentals. The analog space is broad-based in terms of the end-markets it touches, so global macro issues have an important impact. Many of our analog/discrete semi names are quite cyclical and are the first to fall off at the start of a downturn, but they are also among the first to turn up as we enter an economic bottoming process, which seems to be taking place. Technology/IT Hardware & Distribution IT Supply Chain 2011 Review and 2012 Outlook – IT spending remained relatively healthy in 2011 despite the backdrop of numerous macroeconomic issues, including high unemployment, weakening corporate profits, tight credit conditions, and European sovereign debt concerns. The resiliency of IT spending, in our view, continues to be driven by the push for increased productivity, mobility, data analytics, resource utilization, and security.