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We’ve already got a busy day of Q3 earnings reports to sift through, and market participants should take heart that, by and large, most major companies reporting before the opening bell have outperformed expectations — in some cases by a wide margin. After today’s market close, we expect another wave of Q3 reports from companies such as AT&T (T - Free Report) and Chipotle (CMG - Free Report) . But let’s dig in with the breakfast portion of earnings results:
Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)-rated Caterpillar (CAT - Free Report) is up 7% in pre-market trading following its blowout results in Q3 earnings and revenues. Its bottom line of $1.77 per share amounts to a 45% positive earnings surprise over the $1.22 in the Zacks consensus, and miles ahead of the 85 cents per share in CAT’s fiscal Q3 2016. Sales reached $11.4 billion, far surpassing the $10.6 billion expected and $9.2 billion a year ago. Construction growth in China and on-shore oil & gas businesses in North America drove quarterly growth most notably.
Remarkably, CAT’s 45% earnings surprise is roughly in-line with the heavy machinery manufacturer’s trailing four quarters of earnings beats, bolstered by a Q1 2017 surprise of more than 100%. Caterpillar has also upped full-year guidance to around $6.25 per share; $5.26 was the previous Zacks consensus estimate. CAT also carries a Zacks Style Score of A.
General Motors (GM - Free Report) also outperformed expectations this morning: its $1.32 per share easily outperformed the $1.07 expected — though results are still down more than 20% year over year — on quarterly sales of $33.62 billion — well beyond the $31.6 billion we had been looking for. GM looks to bring two electric cars to market in the next year and a half. It also has posted a positive earnings surprise for at least the past five straight quarters, with a trailing 4-quarter average of 14.7%. Shares of GM are up 3% at this point in today’s pre-market.
Defense and aerospace major United Technologies topped expectations on earnings, revenues and guidance. This is the third straight earnings beat for the parent company of Pratt & Whitney, Otis Elevators, and many other companies: $1.73 per share beat the Zacks consensus by 5 cents, whereas the top-line actual of $15.1 billion outperformed the $14.9 billion we had been looking for. Full-year guidance was also raised from $6.45 - 6.60 per share to $6.58 - 6.63.
Industrial supply giant 3M (MMM - Free Report) also beat top and bottom-line estimates prior to Tuesday’s open, with earnings of $2.33 per share and revenues of $8.17 billion surprising the $2.21 per share and $7.91 billion expected. Full-year guidance was also ratcheted up notably, from the previous Zacks consensus estimate of $8.95 per share to $9.00 - 9.15 as of its Q3 report. Shares of 3M are up 1.6% thus far in today’s pre-market.
McDonald’s (MCD - Free Report) posted a mixed Q3 earnings report this morning, beating earnings estimates by a penny to $1.76 per share on $5.76 billion, which was a bit shy of the $5.80 billion expected. The Zacks ESP called this one-cent beat exactly, even as the negative impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit same-store sales in Texas and Florida from Q3 2016. In fact, U.S. comps were up 4.1% in the quarter, and International was up 6%. Shares are currently up 1.3% in early trading.
Other companies this morning to have surpassed expectations and also raised full-year guidance are Stanley Black & Decker (SWK - Free Report) , Eli Lilly (LLY - Free Report) and Polaris (PII - Free Report) . Please check out these companies’ quote pages by clicking on their ticker links, and there you will find in-depth reports on the latest earnings news.
It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +18.8% from 2016 - Q1 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +157.0%, +128.0%, +97.8%, +94.7% and +90.2%, respectively.
???And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - Q1 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 11X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation.
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Big Morning of Q3 Earnings Beats
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
We’ve already got a busy day of Q3 earnings reports to sift through, and market participants should take heart that, by and large, most major companies reporting before the opening bell have outperformed expectations — in some cases by a wide margin. After today’s market close, we expect another wave of Q3 reports from companies such as AT&T (T - Free Report) and Chipotle (CMG - Free Report) . But let’s dig in with the breakfast portion of earnings results:
Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)-rated Caterpillar (CAT - Free Report) is up 7% in pre-market trading following its blowout results in Q3 earnings and revenues. Its bottom line of $1.77 per share amounts to a 45% positive earnings surprise over the $1.22 in the Zacks consensus, and miles ahead of the 85 cents per share in CAT’s fiscal Q3 2016. Sales reached $11.4 billion, far surpassing the $10.6 billion expected and $9.2 billion a year ago. Construction growth in China and on-shore oil & gas businesses in North America drove quarterly growth most notably.
Remarkably, CAT’s 45% earnings surprise is roughly in-line with the heavy machinery manufacturer’s trailing four quarters of earnings beats, bolstered by a Q1 2017 surprise of more than 100%. Caterpillar has also upped full-year guidance to around $6.25 per share; $5.26 was the previous Zacks consensus estimate. CAT also carries a Zacks Style Score of A.
General Motors (GM - Free Report) also outperformed expectations this morning: its $1.32 per share easily outperformed the $1.07 expected — though results are still down more than 20% year over year — on quarterly sales of $33.62 billion — well beyond the $31.6 billion we had been looking for. GM looks to bring two electric cars to market in the next year and a half. It also has posted a positive earnings surprise for at least the past five straight quarters, with a trailing 4-quarter average of 14.7%. Shares of GM are up 3% at this point in today’s pre-market.
Defense and aerospace major United Technologies topped expectations on earnings, revenues and guidance. This is the third straight earnings beat for the parent company of Pratt & Whitney, Otis Elevators, and many other companies: $1.73 per share beat the Zacks consensus by 5 cents, whereas the top-line actual of $15.1 billion outperformed the $14.9 billion we had been looking for. Full-year guidance was also raised from $6.45 - 6.60 per share to $6.58 - 6.63.
Industrial supply giant 3M (MMM - Free Report) also beat top and bottom-line estimates prior to Tuesday’s open, with earnings of $2.33 per share and revenues of $8.17 billion surprising the $2.21 per share and $7.91 billion expected. Full-year guidance was also ratcheted up notably, from the previous Zacks consensus estimate of $8.95 per share to $9.00 - 9.15 as of its Q3 report. Shares of 3M are up 1.6% thus far in today’s pre-market.
McDonald’s (MCD - Free Report) posted a mixed Q3 earnings report this morning, beating earnings estimates by a penny to $1.76 per share on $5.76 billion, which was a bit shy of the $5.80 billion expected. The Zacks ESP called this one-cent beat exactly, even as the negative impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit same-store sales in Texas and Florida from Q3 2016. In fact, U.S. comps were up 4.1% in the quarter, and International was up 6%. Shares are currently up 1.3% in early trading.
Other companies this morning to have surpassed expectations and also raised full-year guidance are Stanley Black & Decker (SWK - Free Report) , Eli Lilly (LLY - Free Report) and Polaris (PII - Free Report) . Please check out these companies’ quote pages by clicking on their ticker links, and there you will find in-depth reports on the latest earnings news.
Mark Vickery
Senior Editor
Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>
Today's Stocks from Zacks' Hottest Strategies
It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But while the market gained +18.8% from 2016 - Q1 2017, our top stock-picking screens have returned +157.0%, +128.0%, +97.8%, +94.7% and +90.2%, respectively.
???And this outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. Over the years it has been remarkably consistent. From 2000 - Q1 2017, the composite yearly average gain for these strategies has beaten the market more than 11X over. Maybe even more remarkable is the fact that we're willing to share their latest stocks with you without cost or obligation.
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