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Earnings Data Deluge

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Q3 earnings reports continue at a heavy pace with some of the world’s largest companies this morning. Though we don’t have time in this space to collect them all, here are a few takeaways:

Zacks Rank #4 (Sell)-rated Boeing (BA - Free Report) , with a Value - Growth - Momentum grade of F prior to its latest report released this morning, outperformed expectations on both top and bottom lines: -$1.39 per share was notably better to the -$2.33 per share in the Zacks consensus, though basically a negative image of the +$1.45 per share posted in the year-ago quarter. Of course, Boeing was facing severe headwinds even before the coronavirus pandemic hit the air travel industry, with the 737 MAX grounded beginning in March 2019.

This is Boeing’s second bottom-line beat in the past three quarters. This rough patch saw Boeing fall short of estimates in four of the past 10 quarters. Revenues also outpaced expectations this morning, with $14.14 billion topping estimates by 2.37%. This is down from $19.98 billion reported in the year-ago quarter. Shares are down 0.9% on this morning’s news, and -53% year to date.

General Electric (GE - Free Report) has completely flipped expectations in its Q3 report this morning, including a swing to positive 6 cents per share from a Zacks consensus -6 cents. This is still off the year-ago pace of +15 cents per share, but GE has gotten lean (and mean?) and no longer resembles the behemoth conglomerate it once was. Revenues of $19.42 billion beat expectations by 1.4%, which has helped the stock rise 0.4% in today’s pre-market, though shares are still down 36.4% year to date.

Logistics and delivery services giant United Parcel Service (UPS - Free Report) put up solid beats on both top and bottom lines this morning: $2.28 per share on $21.24 billion in quarterly sales surpassed the $1.86 per share and a 5.77% positive surprise on the top line. UPS even outperformed year-ago tallies of $2.07 per share and $18.32 billion, respectively. The company has enjoyed 46% gains year to date, with another +3% coming in today’s pre-market.

Advance Trade in Goods for September improved from expectations and month over month — that’s the good news. September’s -$79.4 billion is still a significant trade gap, however, although it outperforms expectations and the August headline, which was revised down to -$83.1 billion — an all-time record low.

Going back to the 1950s, Advance Trade in Good reports maintained a zero balance for about the first 20 years of its existence. Since then, dipping into trade gaps has been part of the U.S. government’s finances, accelerating toward its current rates largely as on the turn of the Millennium.

Markets are falling deeply again in today’s pre-market, faced with new Covid-19 outbreaks both in various regions of the U.S. and in Europe, among other places. Shutdowns are beginning again in earnest — here in Chicago, indoor dining will again be suspended as of Friday — and the market is now paying close attention. No new stimulus until after next week;’s election, if not later, exacerbates the potential pain about to be felt on Main Street going into the winter months.


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