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Ahead of Wall Street

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Markets had a strong session on the first full day of President Trump’s second administration. With much to sift through, what with extensive executive orders being passed, the general belief remains that these decisions will ultimately benefit publicly traded companies and the investors who own them. The Dow gained +537 points today, +1.24%, while the S&P 500 was +52 points, +0.88%. The Nasdaq underperformed the field but still gathered +126 points, +0.64%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 led all major indexes, +1.85%.

Indexes have rocketed up from 2025 lows hit a week to a week and a half ago. The Russell is leading the way so far, nearly +4% from the start of the year. This would track with the idea that large tariffs enforced on companies that involve foreign goods would largely miss the mostly domestic small-cap companies in the index. The blue-chip Dow looks to play catch-up with the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which led all major indexes for the two previous years.

Q4 Earnings Better than Expected: Netflix, United, Capital One


Netflix NFLX shares are up +12% following the release of its Q4 earnings numbers after today’s close. Earnings of $4.27 per share outpaced the $4.19 in the Zacks consensus, with revenues of $10.25 billion coming in higher than the anticipated $10.12 billion. Net added subscribers blasted off to +18.9 million in the quarter, way above the 8.9 million projected.

The streaming giant also sees fit to raise its subscription rates: with ads, costs move from $7 per month to $8. Without ads, this goes from $15.49 per month to $17.49, and for Premium service it’s now up $2 to $24.99 per month. There is no subscriber guidance for next quarter; in fact, this is the last quarter Netflix will file subscriber numbers in its earnings reports.

Check out the updated Zacks Earnings Calendar here.

United Airlines UAL shares are up +3.5% in late trading, reflecting a strong Q4 earnings report for the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)-rated airline. Earnings of $3.26 per share surpassed the $3.01 analysts were looking for (and well above the $2.,00 per share reported in the year-ago quarter). Revenues of $14.7 billion easily bettered expectations of $14.39 billion. Premium revenues grew by +10% in the quarter, followed by +8.7% in International, +7% in Corporate and +5.7% for Domestic air travel.

Capitol One COF also outpaced expectations in its Q4 report released after today’s close, albeit by slimmer margins than the companies above. Earnings beat by a penny to $2.67 per share on revenues of $10.19 billion, modestly ahead of the $10.16 billion analysts were looking for. Loan loss provisions were notably lower than expected — $2.64 versus $3.02 — while Net Interest Income was slightly lower than anticipated. Shares are down slightly on the news, but had shot up +8% year to date.

What to Expect from the Stock Market Wednesday


Earnings reports will continue ahead of tomorrow’s open, with major household products makers Johnson & Johnson JNJ and Procter & Gamble PG among them. Also GE Vernova GEV, the energy equipment spinoff from General Electric, will report earnings for the fourth time and looking for its third positive surprise in a row.

This is a light week for economic prints, but Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) for December will come out after the open Wednesday. Analysts expect a dip into the negative, -0.1%, from +0.3% the previous month.

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Stocks On The Move

Company Symbol Price $Change %Change
Methode Electronics, Inc. MEI 13.05 1.19 10.03
Urban Outfitters, Inc. URBN 60.44 5.43 9.87
Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. RIGL 21.81 1.68 8.35
Veracyte, Inc. VCYT 43.60 3.02 7.44
OraSure Technologies, Inc. OSUR 3.92 0.27 7.40

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Earnings and Economic News

Key Earnings Reports For Jan 22, 2025

Economic Event Reported
(+) Federal Funds Rate - Jan 22, 2025 4:15 PM Eastern Time
(+) Treasury notes (10 yr) - Jan 22, 2025 4:15 PM Eastern Time
(+) Treasury bills (3 mth) - Jan 22, 2025 4:15 PM Eastern Time
(+) Leading Indicators - Jan 22, 2025 --