As earnings reports for the first quarter roll in, U.S. companies are beating the estimates of analysts at a rate not seen in more than a decade. Yet stocks have languished. The S&P 500 has fallen about 2% in April. So why aren't investors impressed?
The holidays may have come and gone, but when Best Buy posts its quarterly earnings, it's going to very publicly relive them -- whether it wants to or not. Wall Street analysts are generally optimistic, but there reasons for investors to worry.
Suddenly, Majesco Entertainment isn't living up to its COOL ticker symbol. Shares of the video game developer and publisher got crushed on Tuesday after it surprised the markets by following its previous three blowout quarters with a loss for Q4.
If Netflix's poorly received rate hike and Qwikster fiasco didn't leave you questioning CEO Reed Hastings' ability to lead the video buffet operator, Monday night's quarterly report should do the trick. But it'll take more than strategic missteps and fumbled apologies to send the CEO packing.
Apple finds itself in an unfamiliar place this week. The iEverything giant posted quarterly results on Tuesday that missed Wall Street's expectations. That hasn't happened in years. While the iPhone 4S delay was the key culprit, the real story is in these seven key numbers that Apple investors should keep in mind.
The bad news is that the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, sits at 1,131, a low point it hasn't traded near consistently since late 2009. The worse news is that there's every reason to believe it will decline further to below 900, back to levels it hit around March 2009.
Earnings season has officially kicked into high gear: 39 companies have reported so far, with the S&P reporting an earnings per share surprise of 6.8%. The best results include increases in financials, consumer discretionary, and materials. Here are some highlights.
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:
Based on Sprint's improving average revenue per user for mobile data service and the growth rate of its subscriber base, Trefis has raised its outlook for the telecom giant.
The quarter winds down this week with earnings reports from a handful of companies including Lennar, Family Dollar and Krispy Kreme. And on Friday, investors will zero in on the March unemployment report, which could have the potential to move the market.
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.
The recent pushback on health care reform appears to have boosted the stock prices of health insurance companies, which have outperformed major indexes by quite a margin so far this year. That's because Americans have been cutting back on doctor visits, keeping reimbursement costs low.
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.
McDonald's will increase prices on some items in the U.S. this year in response to rising commodity prices that are boosting food costs, Chicago Breaking Business reported, citing remarks the company made on its earnings conference call Monday.
Toyota plans to rev up its vehicle production in the U.S., despite November's 7.3% drop in U.S. sales. The automaker has hired the first of an expected 2,000 workers for a new Mississippi Corolla plant, and says it expects to boost overall capacity utilization significantly from last year's weak levels.