We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
Morgan Stanley (MS) - free report >>
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) - free report >>
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) - free report >>
United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL) - free report >>
American Express Company (AXP) - free report >>
Image: Bigstock
Solid Housing Starts Join Q2 Earnings Data
Wednesday, July 19th, 2017
As we mull earnings reports from IBM (IBM - Free Report) and United Continental (UAL - Free Report) from Tuesday afternoon and more Wall Street investment firms this morning, we also see fresh data on June Housing Starts and Permits. Both headline numbers came in hotter than expected: 1.215 million on June starts (up 8.3%) and 1.254 million in permits (up 7.4%). (These results are seasonally adjusted and annualized.)
Housing Starts in May also saw a positive revision from 1.09 million units to 1.12 million. Analysts had only expected a 5.5% increase in starts and just 1.7% in permits. Starts were bolstered by a strong 849K in single-family housing. All this said, we are still well off the multi-year highs of roughly 2 million annualized housing starts per month.
Zacks Rank #4 (Sell)-rated Morgan Stanley (MS - Free Report) topped estimates on both top and bottom lines ahead of the bell this morning: 87 cents per share beat the 76 cents expected, and the $9.5 billion in revenues easily surpassed the $8.9 billion in the Zacks consensus estimate. These results beat fairly low bars for Morgan in the quarter, however: our consensus earnings estimate for Q2 had tumbled more than 10% in the past month.
U.S. Bancorp (USB - Free Report) also beat expectations for its Q2 earnings and revenues, albeit more slightly: 85 cents per share beat by a penny, and revenues of $5.49 billion outperformed the $5.46 billion in the Zacks consensus. This is a very typical quarterly performance for the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock: the trailing 4-quarter average earnings beat — in which the bank topped expectations each time — was 1.55%.
Wednesday after the bell will give us a breather of sorts, with American Express (AXP - Free Report) and T-Mobile U.S. (TMUS - Free Report) reporting after the bell, but the real marquee names of earnings season begin after the bell with Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) Thursday afternoon, and then the dam really breaks open next week.
Mark Vickery
Senior Editor
Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>