For Immediate Release Chicago, IL – April 25, 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 Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL – Free Report ), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL – Free Report ), Ford (NYSE: F – Free Report ) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA – Free Report ). Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free . Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog: Will Self-Driving Cars Push Apple (AAPL) to New Highs? Reuters said that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL – Free Report ) has “outlined” a plan to “train” self-driving car operators, giving an insight into its closely guarded self driving car/technology efforts. Reuters cited documents released exclusively to it by California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). For a while now, there has been tremendous speculation about Apple’s autonomous car technology development efforts, which is apparently codenamed Project Titan. As usual, Apple has refrained from commenting on the matter so far as it loves to maintain secrecy regarding projects it’s working on. Per latest report from Reuters, Apple’s 41 page application submitted to DMV, CA, comprises a 10 page training plan that includes a document called "Automated System: Development Platform Specific Training Overview." The objective of Automated System: Development Platform Specific Training Overview is "to train safety drivers in various automated driving conditions," Reuters further adds. However, these documents don’t reveal a lot of things, like the kind of sensors attached to the vehicles or the self driving car platform mechanism. Last week, it was reported that Apple had secured a permit to test self-driving vehicles. The permit is issued to test drive three vehicles (2015 Lexus RX450h models) with two drivers each, added DMV. Apple’s Project Titan has been in the news since 2014–2015. Initially, it was reported that Apple was working on an “iCar.” There were numerous reports of the company making sound talent acquisitions as well as collaborating with the likes of BMW for the car design. VP of Product Design, Steve Zadesky was permitted to set up a 1K strong workforce for the project. Later on, the “iCar” rumors lost steam as the project was reportedly marred by conflicts and management troubles. Following this, Apple decided to prune some of its 1K strong workforce assigned to the project. In Jan 2016, with the resignation of Zadesky, things became more blurred. However, reportedly, Bob Mansfield was brought on board to once again spearhead the project in July 2016. It is now speculated that Apple may not be designing a full fledged car but an autonomous self driving car technology platform. Apple’s fortunes remain tied to its flagship offering, iPhone, at least in the near term. With iPhone 7 and 7 Plus performing relatively well and the excitement building up for iPhone 8 (dubbed as a super cycle), Apple can breathe easy. However, increasing competition from cheaper handsets is emerging as a big concern. Apple is under great pressure to introduce new products. Apple Pay, Apple Watch, Apple Music are some of the new ventures undertaken by the company. Also, revenues from App Store are growing. Apple is also working on developing technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality/ virtual reality (AR/VR), which are fast emerging as lucrative business opportunities. The company’s interest in the autonomous car project is understandable as this is now being labeled as a big business opportunity. According to Boston Consulting Group estimates, the autonomous car market will be worth $42 billion by 2025 and $77 billion by 2035. Per Statista, the market for fully autonomous vehicles will grow to almost $6 billion while partially autonomous vehicles market will reach $36 billion by 2025. Self-driving technology gained immense importance in the past few years with tech and auto behemoths like Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL – Free Report ), Ford (NYSE:F – Free Report ), Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA – Free Report ), Volkswagen AG, Daimler AG, Uber and Lyft directing resources to develop this technology. However, analysts are skeptical about self-driving cars being feasible before 2020, at least. Zacks Rank and Stock Price Movement Currently, Apple has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here . Over the past year, shares of Apple have registered growth of 35.40% compared with the Zacks categorized Computer Mini industry’s gain of 34.86%. More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone! It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market. Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020. Click here for the 6 trades >> 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 >>. Get the full Report on AAPL - FREE Get the full Report on GOOGL - FREE Get the full Report on F - FREE Get the full Report on TSLA - FREE Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Re... 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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. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report Ford Motor Company (F): Free Stock Analysis Report Tesla Inc. (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research