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Earnings Data Deluge

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We’ve finally arrived to the moment the entire investment world has been waiting for: monthly motor vehicle sales numbers throughout the day! Kidding, of course, but we do expect auto sales to be posted from the biggest manufacturers today. We’ll also see Factory Orders for September, also after the opening bell. Expectations are for +1.0%, following the previous month’s +0.7%.

No, of course it’s Election Day at the front of everyone’s mind, if only for the reason that we will soon be able to stop focusing on election data once a President and Congress has been decided. Here in Illinois, it’s the first time Election Day has been made a state holiday. For many of us who have already voted, however, it’s soon to be understood as yet another day the kids don’t have to go to public school.

Ant Group has had its IPO suspended by the Shanghai and Hong Kong markets today, raising concerns of “gray-market trading” involved with this, the expected biggest IPO in global financial history. Jack Ma’s Chinese e-payment giant was expected to bring in $34.5 billion upon going public, but now many pressing questions regarding Ant Group’s business activities — not necessarily nefarious, but perhaps less than fully accountable at this stage — appear to be the tipping point here.

Fox Corp. (FOXA - Free Report) , a big TV network around election season coverage, brought in $1.18 per share in its fiscal Q1 — well ahead of the 81 cents per share expected and the 83 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $2.72 billion beat estimates by 5%. The company always beats on earnings, and is trading higher in today’s pre-market, but remains around -25% year to date.

Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)-rated Humana (HUM - Free Report) also posted a big beat on its top and bottom lines for Q3: $3.08 per share outpaced the $2.86 we were looking for (though down from the $5.03 per share reported a year ago), on $20.08 billion in revenues that was 7.5% higher than the Zacks consensus. Humana has not missed an earnings consensus in several years.

Another Zacks Rank #2 company, building products supplier JELD-WEN (JELD - Free Report) , posted 52 cents per share for its latest quarter — double its year-ago quarterly earnings, and notably higher than the $2.86 per share expected. Revenues of $1.11 billion topped its estimate by 2.67%. This marks JELD-WEN’s third straight earnings beat, after four straight quarterly misses.

Saving the best for last, Wayfair (W - Free Report) posted a 184% positive surprise in its Q3 earnings report, to $2.30 per share over expectations of 81 cents. Even stronger, this is a year-over-year rise from $2.23 per share reported in Q3 2019. Shares are up on the news, though still way underwater for the year.


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