Barron's Picks And Pans: Coach, DowDuPont, Caesars And More

• This weekend's Barron's cover story offers a look at how antitrust concerns are likely to affect three tech giants.
• Other featured articles discuss a consumer goods maker that is transforming itself and a chemicals giant that plans to split itself up.
• Prospects for a casino operator and a leading investment bank are also examined.

"Breaking Up Tech" by Tiernan Ray is the cover story and it points out that regulators increasingly are challenging Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Facebook Inc FB. Will antitrust concerns drag down their stock prices and distract management as has happened to tech giants of the past?

Emily Bary's "By Any Name, Coach Shares Look Like a Buy" suggests that shares of Coach Inc COH, soon to be known as Tapestry, look undervalued now. See why Barron's thinks that investors who stick with the company as it transforms to a brand house may be rewarded. Can Coach maintain its market share and its stock return as much as 30 percent in the next 12 months?

In "DowDuPont: Buy It Ahead of the Breakup," Jack Hough makes a case for shares of the world's largest chemical company to return as much as 30 percent over the next year. Can DowDuPont Inc DWDP cut $3 billion in yearly costs and attract a higher valuation by splitting into three parts as planned? See the track record in this area of its current chief executive officer.

See also: Is The CEO Behind LaCroix The Most Gonzo Writer On Wall Street?

After a disastrous 2008 leveraged buyout, Caesars Entertainment Corp CZR has cleaned up its act and looks ready to grow again, according to "Caesars Returns to Building Its Gaming Empire" by Andrew Bary. The gambling giant will lay out its strategy at a conference in New York on Tuesday. See why Barron's believes its shares could rise up to 50 percent over the next 18 months.

In Avi Salzman's follow-up article, "Morgan Stanley's Strategy Shift Pays Off," see why this bank's strategic response to the financial crisis has proved more resilient than that of any other Wall Street firm, and why Barron's sees another 20 percent gain in the stock as likely. Barron's last featured Morgan Stanley MS in 2014, and its shares are up some 60 percent since then.

Also In This Week's Barron's:

• What is really driving this stock market higher.
• Whether Tillerson and Cohn are free to leave White House.
• What options clients can expect from Schwab.
• How robo advisors risk falling into old traps.
• Why there's no easy fix for mushrooming federal debt.
• Coming increases in energy-stock dividends.
• How to protect data from breaches.