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Economic Prints, Q4 Reports Up for Lilly, CAT; J&J Posts Phase-3 Data
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Friday, January 29, 2021
With the GameStop (GME - Free Report) short-squeeze saga continuing, market indexes work to regain their equilibrium. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are all lower in today’s pre-market trading, though if fortunes shift, we could be looking at an up week of trading overall — despite the big 2%+ drop as investors tried to reckon with risks associated with Robinhood traders going after hedge-fund short-sellers.
Personal Income for December outperformed expectations this morning, posting +0.6% from a +0.1% estimate, though on a downwardly revised -1.3% report from November. We note that the year 2020 in Personal Income prints reflected more along the lines of labor force employment than workers earning higher incomes; back in April, when Personal Income grew 12.4%, it was the biggest one-month drop in labor ever.
Over the past six months, we have averaged -0.367% in income growth. Thus, growing by 0.6% we see as a positive development, even though it may again be the result of more layoffs as pandemic conditions force companies to shed low-end workers.
Consumer Spending, also for December, sank lower than expected: -0.2% from a -0.4% estimate. However, this was more than made up in the previous month’s revision, from -0.4% originally reported in November to -0.7% now. There are many reads on a monthly basis tracking the appetite of the American consumer; this one in particular is demonstrating that purchasing confidence is not where many thought it would have been by this point.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) has released data on its phase-3 Covid-19 vaccine trial against moderate-to-severe strains of the coronavirus. We see 72% efficacy in the U.S. trial and 66% in testing overall (including South Africa), but with 85% efficacy in preventing severe disease and protecting against hospitalizations and fatalities from Covid-19 as of Day 28 in the study. These are obviously not as successful as figures released from Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) /BioNTech (BNTX - Free Report) and Moderna (MRNA - Free Report) vaccines, though the previous studies did not include efficacy versus tougher strains of the coronavirus.
Eli Lilly (LLY - Free Report) saw a boost to its Q4 numbers on its Covid-19 antibody drug, bamlanivimab, to be used for the prevention of contracting Covid-19. Earnings of $2.75 per share swept past the $2.35 Zacks consensus, on $7.44 billion in sales which topped expectations of $7.23 billion. This marks 22% top-line growth year over year. Shares are up an additional 3.5% on the Q4 release, and Lilly has already gained 27% year to date. For more on LLY’s earnings, click here.
Heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar (CAT - Free Report) stomped estimates on its bottom line this morning in its Q4 report, posting a 45% positive surprise to $2.12 per share (though down 22% from the year-ago quarter) on $11.24 billion in quarterly revenues, ahead of the $11.18 billion expected but -15% from the year-ago quarter. Caterpillar saw reduced numbers across all segments, but still performed better than expected. Shares are up 2% following the release, pushing the stock into positive territory year to date. For more on CAT’s earnings, click here.
Last year, it generated $24 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $77.6 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.
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Economic Prints, Q4 Reports Up for Lilly, CAT; J&J Posts Phase-3 Data
Friday, January 29, 2021
With the GameStop (GME - Free Report) short-squeeze saga continuing, market indexes work to regain their equilibrium. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 are all lower in today’s pre-market trading, though if fortunes shift, we could be looking at an up week of trading overall — despite the big 2%+ drop as investors tried to reckon with risks associated with Robinhood traders going after hedge-fund short-sellers.
Personal Income for December outperformed expectations this morning, posting +0.6% from a +0.1% estimate, though on a downwardly revised -1.3% report from November. We note that the year 2020 in Personal Income prints reflected more along the lines of labor force employment than workers earning higher incomes; back in April, when Personal Income grew 12.4%, it was the biggest one-month drop in labor ever.
Over the past six months, we have averaged -0.367% in income growth. Thus, growing by 0.6% we see as a positive development, even though it may again be the result of more layoffs as pandemic conditions force companies to shed low-end workers.
Consumer Spending, also for December, sank lower than expected: -0.2% from a -0.4% estimate. However, this was more than made up in the previous month’s revision, from -0.4% originally reported in November to -0.7% now. There are many reads on a monthly basis tracking the appetite of the American consumer; this one in particular is demonstrating that purchasing confidence is not where many thought it would have been by this point.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) has released data on its phase-3 Covid-19 vaccine trial against moderate-to-severe strains of the coronavirus. We see 72% efficacy in the U.S. trial and 66% in testing overall (including South Africa), but with 85% efficacy in preventing severe disease and protecting against hospitalizations and fatalities from Covid-19 as of Day 28 in the study. These are obviously not as successful as figures released from Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) /BioNTech (BNTX - Free Report) and Moderna (MRNA - Free Report) vaccines, though the previous studies did not include efficacy versus tougher strains of the coronavirus.
Eli Lilly (LLY - Free Report) saw a boost to its Q4 numbers on its Covid-19 antibody drug, bamlanivimab, to be used for the prevention of contracting Covid-19. Earnings of $2.75 per share swept past the $2.35 Zacks consensus, on $7.44 billion in sales which topped expectations of $7.23 billion. This marks 22% top-line growth year over year. Shares are up an additional 3.5% on the Q4 release, and Lilly has already gained 27% year to date. For more on LLY’s earnings, click here.
Heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar (CAT - Free Report) stomped estimates on its bottom line this morning in its Q4 report, posting a 45% positive surprise to $2.12 per share (though down 22% from the year-ago quarter) on $11.24 billion in quarterly revenues, ahead of the $11.18 billion expected but -15% from the year-ago quarter. Caterpillar saw reduced numbers across all segments, but still performed better than expected. Shares are up 2% following the release, pushing the stock into positive territory year to date. For more on CAT’s earnings, click here.
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The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All
Last year, it generated $24 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $77.6 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.
See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >>