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One sign that we’re in a resilient bull market presently is that we’ve strolled into a potentially thorny period of economic and earnings data with market levels up more than a week straight, and we keep climbing further into the green (decidedly as of this afternoon’s trading). Jobs Week, earnings reports from four of the so-called “Magnificent 7” market leaders from 2023, and a fresh Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting all await market participants from now til Friday, and thus far we haven’t batted an eyelash.
A sixth record closing high for the S&P 500 just this month/year alone ought to give a good impression of where the market’s collective head is at presently. The S&P gained +0.76% — led by all-time highs from Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) , which reports fiscal Q2 earnings after tomorrow’s close — while the Nasdaq performed even better: +172 points, +1.12% on the day. The small-cap Russell 2000 won the day, +1.38%, while the blue-chip Dow brought up the rear, making +224 points for the session, +0.59%.
And the hits don’t stop there. Silicon Valley-based Super Micro (SMCI - Free Report) , after already having climbed +74% year to date and +59% from near-term lows on January 18th, outperformed recently raised guidance in its fiscal Q2 report released after today’s closing bell. Earnings of $5.59 per share outshone the upward guidance from two weeks ago, while revenues of $3.66 billion sped past the $3.21 billion in the Zacks consensus, on strong A.I. demand. Shares are up +6% at this hour, down from +7.4% immediately after the release; shares of Super Micro are up an incredible +587% since this time last year.
Cloud management network F5, Inc. (FFIV - Free Report) also easily outpaces fiscal Q1 expectations on both top and bottom lines this afternoon, posting earnings of $3.43 per share for a 40-cent beat, on quarterly sales of $693 million, which bettered the $687 million analysts were expecting. The mid-range on next-quarter revenue guidance has been raised to $695 million on the high end, while earnings per share for Q2 have come down a bit, to a range of $2.75-2.91 per share. F5 stock had jumped +10% on the news, and are currently trading +6.8% in the late session.
American appliances stalwart Whirlpool (WHR - Free Report) also beat estimates in Q4 for both revenues and earnings after the closing bell today, notching earnings per share of $3.85 from $3.64 expected (still four cents below the year-ago’s $3.89 per share) on $5.09 billion in quarterly sales, which topped the $5.05 billion consensus estimate. However, lower guidance for full year revenues have come down to $16.9 billion from north of $19 billion previously forecast, on further cost restructuring initiatives. Shares are down -4% on the news, and -23% from this time a year ago.
Image: Bigstock
Markets Stroll Higher Ahead of Key Data; SMCI, FFIV, WHR Beat
One sign that we’re in a resilient bull market presently is that we’ve strolled into a potentially thorny period of economic and earnings data with market levels up more than a week straight, and we keep climbing further into the green (decidedly as of this afternoon’s trading). Jobs Week, earnings reports from four of the so-called “Magnificent 7” market leaders from 2023, and a fresh Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting all await market participants from now til Friday, and thus far we haven’t batted an eyelash.
A sixth record closing high for the S&P 500 just this month/year alone ought to give a good impression of where the market’s collective head is at presently. The S&P gained +0.76% — led by all-time highs from Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) , which reports fiscal Q2 earnings after tomorrow’s close — while the Nasdaq performed even better: +172 points, +1.12% on the day. The small-cap Russell 2000 won the day, +1.38%, while the blue-chip Dow brought up the rear, making +224 points for the session, +0.59%.
And the hits don’t stop there. Silicon Valley-based Super Micro (SMCI - Free Report) , after already having climbed +74% year to date and +59% from near-term lows on January 18th, outperformed recently raised guidance in its fiscal Q2 report released after today’s closing bell. Earnings of $5.59 per share outshone the upward guidance from two weeks ago, while revenues of $3.66 billion sped past the $3.21 billion in the Zacks consensus, on strong A.I. demand. Shares are up +6% at this hour, down from +7.4% immediately after the release; shares of Super Micro are up an incredible +587% since this time last year.
Cloud management network F5, Inc. (FFIV - Free Report) also easily outpaces fiscal Q1 expectations on both top and bottom lines this afternoon, posting earnings of $3.43 per share for a 40-cent beat, on quarterly sales of $693 million, which bettered the $687 million analysts were expecting. The mid-range on next-quarter revenue guidance has been raised to $695 million on the high end, while earnings per share for Q2 have come down a bit, to a range of $2.75-2.91 per share. F5 stock had jumped +10% on the news, and are currently trading +6.8% in the late session.
American appliances stalwart Whirlpool (WHR - Free Report) also beat estimates in Q4 for both revenues and earnings after the closing bell today, notching earnings per share of $3.85 from $3.64 expected (still four cents below the year-ago’s $3.89 per share) on $5.09 billion in quarterly sales, which topped the $5.05 billion consensus estimate. However, lower guidance for full year revenues have come down to $16.9 billion from north of $19 billion previously forecast, on further cost restructuring initiatives. Shares are down -4% on the news, and -23% from this time a year ago.
Tomorrow, we’ll see economic prints for Case-Shiller home prices, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), and Consumer Confidence. We’ll see earnings for UPS (UPS - Free Report) and Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) ahead of Tuesday’s open, Microsoft and Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) after its close.
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