The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Tesla Motors, Ford Motor, Honda Motor, Fuji Heavy Industries and Hewlett-Packard

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Dec 17, 2013, 09:30 ET

CHICAGO, Dec. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 theTesla Motors, Inc. (Nasdaq:TSLA-Free Report), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F-Free Report), Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE:HMC-Free Report), Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (OTC:FUJHY-Free Report) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ-Free Report).

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Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:

Tesla to Unveil Model E in 2015

Franz von Holzhausen, the automobile designer of Tesla Motors, Inc. (Nasdaq:TSLA-Free Report) revealed in an interview with Autobild, that the company's third-generation Model E car is expected to be unveiled in the 2015 Detroit Auto Show. However, deliveries of the car are anticipated to start in 2016–2017.

This time gap in unveiling and selling is a common practice for Tesla. The company had revealed the first version of Model S in 2011 and the final version in early 2012, although the deliveries didn't start before the first quarter of 2013.

The launch of Tesla's third-generation electric car is highly awaited as it is expected to cost half as much as Model S and is meant to serve the mass market. The estimated range of the new car is over 200 miles, solely on the basis of electric charging. It is well known that while Tesla currently produces expensive electric cars for the luxury market, the company's ultimate aim is to make electric cars accessible to the masses by manufacturing an affordable family car.

Holzhausen revealed that the Model E car will not be smaller than Model S, as expected earlier. He also announced that the Model X, which will hit the market next year, is almost ready with only some finishing touches left to be done. Further, he clarified that the recent fires have not affected the designers' approach to making the car as their goal has always been to build safe cars.

Apart from Model E, Tesla is also developing an autopilot system, which will allow its cars to be 90% self-driven. The company is aiming to launch the auto-pilot system in 2016, though a completely self-driven car will take much longer to develop.

Moreover, in Nov 2013, Tesla announced that it is considering developing an electric pickup truck within five years. The truck will be modeled after Ford Motor Co.'s (NYSE:F-Free Report) best-selling F-150 pickup. It is expected that the company will launch the pickup truck after introducing Model X and Model E.

Tesla currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked automobile stocks include Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE:HMC-Free Report), Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (OTC:FUJHY-Free Report) and Ford. All these stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

H-P Unveils Hybrid Cloud Solution

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ-Free Report) or H-P recently unveiled a host of new cloud solutions. Its new hybrid cloud solutions are capable of managing and connecting public and private clouds securely.

A hybrid cloud comprises two or more clouds (private, community, or public) that can be used both locally and off-site and offers the benefit of multiple operation models to its users. Through this new offering from H-P, organizations will now be better equipped to handle hybrid cloud technology as it will now be significantly easier for them to manage and control their business applications securely.

The new cloud platform incorporates the next generation of HP CloudSystem, the HP Hybrid Cloud Management Platform, HP Hybrid Cloud Design Professional Services and the new HP Public Cloud VPC, which is designed to make cloud-computing environment more simple, flexible, efficient and cost effective.

The cloud computing market, according to Gartner, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 62.0% to $160 billion from 2012 to 2015. Moreover, the research firm also predicts that the cloud-based security services market will rise to $3.1 billion in 2015 from $2.1 billion in 2013. Cloud computing leads to improved services and elevated security requirements for companies that use it and H-P's product portfolio is well positioned to benefit from that.

Additionally, according to H-P, 40% of cloud users have adopted the hybrid cloud as a part of their operational strategy, and by 2016, around 75% of IT executives propose to adopt this cloud-solution to improve services and enhance security for IT-enabled expansion. We believe that this new offering is ideal for companies that have an extensive IT infrastructure, which requires a certain level of compliance and enterprise integration.

Apart from this, we remain optimistic about H-P's strong business model, as well as its leadership position in both PC and Server segments. The company is also expected to benefit from an increase in IT spending and PC refresh cycles.

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