Markets Keep Gaining Amid Strong Corporate Earnings

This morning’s pre-market indexes look for fresh all-time highs today, as another robust earnings season hits high gear. Commodities like oil and gold are also starting in positive territory this morning, and the 10-year t-bill is now residing around 2.65%. All good things, relatively.

Let’s start Q4 reports with the worst performer on the Dow Jones Industrial Average through 2017: General Electric GE. The Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) company with a Zacks Style Score of F (Value, Growth, Momentum) missed bottom line estimates of 28 cents per share by a penny, on quarterly revenues of $31.4 billion which fell far short of the $32.9 billion expected in the Zacks consensus.

For fiscal 2018, GE guidance is currently between $1.00-1.07 per share. Recently installed CEO John Flannery has called 2018 a “reset year,” seeking to reduce corporate costs by $2 billion and laying off 12K GE workers. Also, don’t rule out the possibility of GE being hived off into separate entities at some point in the future. For more on GE’s earnings, click here.

From former owner of NBCUniversal to the present one, Comcast CMCSA has also put out earnings results prior to today’s opening bell, reporting 49 cents per share on $21.9 billion in revenues — both better than the 47 cents and $21.8 billion expected. Revenues grew 4.2% year over year on growth in high-speed Internet and security and automation customers, somewhat offset by losses in voice and video subscribers. For more on CMCSA’s earnings, click here.

Abbot Labs ABT beat by a penny to 74 cents per share, on revenues of $7.59 billion that easily topped the Zacks consensus estimate of $7.36 billion. Positive results were attributed to higher sales in Pharma, Devices, Diagnostics and Nutrition. Pre-market shares were up close to 2%. For more on ABT’s earnings, click here.

Fellow Illinois-based company Illinois Tool Works ITW also outperformed bottom-line expectations with quarterly earnings of $1.70 per share ahead of the $1.62 expected. Revenues, however, came in light at $6.59 billion, below the $6.7 billion we had been looking for. For more on ITW’s earnings, click here.

Finally, both United Technologies UTX and General Dynamics GD — two Defense industry Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stocks -- topped bottom-line expectations: $1.60 and $2.50, which beat the $1.56 and $2.37 estimates, respectively. Revenues for UTX also beat, while GD quarterly sales came up short in its Q4. For more on UTX’s earnings, click here. For more on GD’s earnings, click here.

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