earnings season

Alcoa's First-Quarter Profit Rises, Beats Wall Street Expectations

Alcoa kicked off earnings season Monday by reporting a larger first-quarter profit than expected, helped by strong demand for aluminum used to make airplanes and automobiles.

5 Things to Watch on Wall Street This Week

From an established homebuilder going public to the leading used-car retailer slamming reporting quarterly results, there is plenty of news to come this week.

Market Faces Expectations of Weak First Quarter Earnings

As usual, Alcoa kicks off the earnings season after today's closing bell, and the strong gains of recent years are not expected to continue.

ExxonMobil Sued Over Arkansas Pipeline Spill

Two Arkansas residents have filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil. They’re seeking $5 million in damages, claiming a pipeline spill has caused a permanent drop in property values.

Stocks Post Third Straight Week of Gains

Markets Rise as Alcoa Sees Stronger Demand

World stock markets rose Wednesday after the fourth-quarter earnings season got off to a positive start in the U.S. with aluminum giant Alcoa forecasting higher demand for 2013. Demand for aluminum has been hurt by the weak global economy, but Alcoa predicted a 7 percent increase in demand this year, slightly better than the 6 percent increase in 2012.

Wall Street Watch this Week: A Bummer Earnings Season Begins

Earnings season is here, and that's not necessarily a good thing. The profitability of all S&P 500 companies is expected to post its first year-over-year decline in nearly three years. Even information technology, a perceived bright spot, is struggling (excepting Apple).

Alcoa Posts $143 Million Loss; Revenue Tops Estimates

Aluminum manufacturer Alcoa says it lost $143 million in the third quarter due to charges, but otherwise topped Wall Street's expectations. The loss amounted to 13 cents per share.

The Big Picture This Week: Earnings Season, Inflation

As the market breathes a sigh of relief on hopes that Europe isn't going to fall apart and the unemployment picture isn't getting worse, the focus shifts to China and earnings season. But earnings may be overshadowed if inflation data out of China is worse than expected, now that the country has the world's second largest economy.

Earning Growth Strong Across Corporate America

S&P 500 companies have nearly completed the second-quarters earnings season, and overall, investors don't have much to complain about: More than 70% of companies have beaten earnings estimates, the index's earnings have risen more than 19% from last year, and nine of 10 sectors have given us a positive earnings surprise.

Market Woes Aside, Earnings Are Looking Up

Given the market's extreme and distressing gyrations over the past week, you'd be forgiven for thinking corporate earnings had been, on the whole, disappointing. But that's not actually the case: A large majority of public companies have performed quite well.

Earnings Season: Harbinger to Next Round of Layoffs?

Wall Street will watch second quarter earnings for telltale signs that the economy has slowed or that corporate margins are even tighter than is feared. But the ones reporting negative outlooks are likely to go back to the same old solution they used so often in recent years: layoffs.

Earnings Season Opens: Early News and Previews

Earnings season unofficially kicks off today, but 26 companies have already reported for the second quarter of this year. According to institutional data provider Capital IQ, here are some of the highlights so far:

Three Things to Watch During Earnings Season

Earnings season is near, and investors, as always are worried. Don't fret too much, though: Odds are that your company will come out on top on the bottom line -- because most do. But what will separate the winners from the whiners for the coming quarter? Here are the three key factors.

Alcoa Kicks Off Earnings Season With Improved Sales

The aluminum giant turned a first-quarter profit on stronger sales at higher prices that were offset by a weaker dollar and higher costs for energy and raw materials.

Will GM Post Its First Annual Profit Since 2004?

Or will it disappoint? Investors -- and taxpayers -- will be watching on Thursday, when GM posts its latest earnings. Despite analyst expectations of a full-year profit, the automaker has warned that fourth-quarter results will fall "significantly" from previous periods.

S&P 500 Quarterly Earnings Beat the Street by 4.5% So Far

The S&P 500 is a bellwether for the American economy, and with quarterly reports for more than half of the index's companies in this earnings season, S&P 500 firms are averaging a 4.5% positive earnings per share surprise, according to Capital IQ's Earnings This Week report.

Toyota Fights Recall Woes and Stronger Yen

The Japanese automaker's bottom line is likely to have been hit by its many safety recalls, weaker U.S. sales and Japan's rising currency. Analysts forecast Toyota will report a quarterly profit of about $1 billion on sales of $56.2 billion.

Ford Shares Tank on Its Earnings Disappointment

Ford shares headed down sharply after the company announced quarterly earnings 18 cents per-share lower than analyst expectations. The miss cast a shadow on the report from Ford, which posted its best annual profit in a more than decade -- $6.6 billion.

Ford May Post Its Best Yearly Profit in a Decade

Analysts forecast that Ford will announce a profit of 48 cents a share on revenue of about $30.6 billion when it releases earnings on Friday. That translates into an expected pretax profit of $8 billion in 2010, the best Ford has seen since 1999.

Another Week of Robust Corporate Earnings?

Apple, BofA, Morgan Stanley, IBM, GE, Goldman and Google are among the names reporting this week. And if last week's numbers are any guide, the market should have plenty of reasons to rally -- especially because expectations aren't all that great.

A Big Week Ahead for the Banking Sector

Fourth-quarter 2010 earnings season ramps up this week. Analysts expect strong results from some big corporate names. And on the heels of last week's big earnings beat from JPMorgan Chase, the financial sector will have plenty more results to peruse this week.

Another Earnings Season, Another Subdued Market?

The S&P 500 gained about 13% last year, but it didn't get much help while companies were releasing results. That index was unchanged or lower for all four of 2010's earnings seasons, and it could repeat this pattern now.

Week in Preview: First Earnings Reports and Economic Readings

Alcoa, Intel and JPMorgan Chase will kick off a new earnings season this week when they report their results for the fourth quarter of 2010. Here's what analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect, followed by a glance at what's coming up on the economic calendar.

GM's IPO: Recovery -- Not the End of the Road

Considering where the iconic carmaker has been in recent years, the pending IPO -- and robust investor demand for shares -- is a remarkably positive step. But GM still has plenty of problem spots that will need fixing if this historic event is to have lasting meaning.