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GE Turns It Around in Q1, Plus PG, SLB & More

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Friday, April 20, 2018

Q1 earnings season has thus far had a pronounced calming effect on market volatility this week; after more than a month of wild turbulence based on a host of external issues, impressive growth and positive surprises for companies so far reported have brought a welcome tepidness to daily trading. Even when markets are down like they were Thursday, there were no three- or four-digit spikes to strike fear into the hearts of investors.

This quarterly good news continues into Friday’s pre-market, with beleaguered industrial major General Electric (GE - Free Report) posting a positive surprise on both top and bottom lines. Earnings of 16 cents per share outpaced the 11 cents expected, whereas quarterly sales of $28.7 billion surpassed the $27.9 billion in the Zacks consensus.

CEO John Flannery had already described 2018 as a “reset year,” following a long duration of losses and underperforming segments under past leadership. Many analysts still expect GE to take some sort of different form in terms of business holdings down the road, but for now the market is pleased with the Q1 beat. Shares are up 6.5% in today’s pre-market, off the multi-year lows struck earlier this month. For more on GE’s earnings, click here.

Zacks Rank #3 (Hold)-rated Procter & Gamble (PG - Free Report) also topped quarterly estimates this morning, posting $1.00 per share on $16.3 billion in revenues — ahead of the expected 98 cents and $16.2 billion, respectively, as well as +4% year over year on both top and bottom lines. Though we saw some weakness in the company’s fiscal Q3 report, such as a dip in core gross margins, full-year earnings guidance was ratcheted up to 6-8%. For more on PG’s earnings, click here.

Oilfield services major Schlumberger (SLB - Free Report) , however, saw an opposite fortune befall the company in its Q1 report: an earnings meet of 38 cents per share combined with a top-line miss of $7,829 million (versus $7,852 million expected) has caused a 1% pre-market sell-off at this hour. Yet revenues were up big from a year ago, with Drilling +28% and Production +98%. For more on SLB’s earnings, click here.

Global financial services major State Street Corp. (STT - Free Report) beat earnings estimates by 4 cents to $1.62 per share, on revenues in Q1 of $3.02 billion which met estimates exactly. This represents 13.2% year-over-year growth on the top line for the Zacks Rank #3-rated company. Shares had been pulling back a tad of late, but this is off all-time highs posted earlier this year. For more on STT’s earnings, click here.

And Stanley Black & Decker (SWK - Free Report) , a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) with Zacks Style Score (Value, Growth, Momentum) of A, beat marginally on both top and bottom lines ahead of today’s opening bell. Earnings of $1.39 per share outperformed by 4 cents per share, whereas $3.2 billion eked by the $3.1 expected. Earnings guidance for the full year reached $8.30-8.50 per share. For more on SWK’s earnings, click here.

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

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