Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Q2 earnings results are coming fast and furious this morning. Let’s see how many we can cram into a single column prior to today’s opening bell:

Morgan Stanley (MS Quick QuoteMS - Free Report) outperformed expectations this morning, handily beating earnings and revenue estimates. The investment bank had entered the quarter-end with diminished expectations, but strong investment banking and fixed income businesses in Q2 boosted the Wall Street major.

Abbott Labs (ABT Quick QuoteABT - Free Report) also topped expectations on both top and bottom lines. The big pharma company beat bottom-line estimates by 3 cents per share on earnings growth of 3.3% year over year. The company also posted revenues gains from the year-ago quarter.

Halliburton (HAL Quick QuoteHAL - Free Report) swung to a loss in Q2, but still managed to outperform what analysts were anticipating from the world’s second-largest oil services firm. Regulatory pressures managed to break up Halliburton’s proposed merger with Baker-Hughes, but the firm sees strength on the horizon with oil prices solidifying around $50 per barrel.

After the bell yesterday, Microsoft (MSFT Quick QuoteMSFT - Free Report) and United Airlines (UAL Quick QuoteUAL - Free Report) both beat earnings and sales estimates in their fiscal quarter reports. In short, we’re looking at the strongest (early) reporting quarter in quite some time.

After the bell today, we hear from some heavy hitters in tech, such as Intel (INTC Quick QuoteINTC - Free Report) , eBay (EBAY Quick QuoteEBAY - Free Report) and Qualcomm (QCOM Quick QuoteQCOM - Free Report) . Will good fortunes in Q2 earnings season continue? Check in after the bell today for our real-time earnings reports to find out.

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor