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McDonald's, Apple, Pfizer, MasterCard and Activision-Blizzard are part of Zacks Earnings Preview
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – April 30, 2018 – Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week’s list includes McDonald’s (MCD - Free Report) , Apple (AAPL - Free Report) , Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) , MasterCard (MA - Free Report) and Activision-Blizzard .
Every day, Zacks.com makes their Bull Stock of the Day available, free of charge. To see it, click here.
Q1 Earnings Season: Good, but Not Great
The picture emerging from the Q1 earnings season, which has now crossed the halfway mark, is one of all-around strength, with Q1 earnings and revenue growth on track to reach its highest level in 7 years.
This is a good showing, but two aspects of this earnings season hold us back from calling it a great performance. First, estimates for the current period have failed thus far to go up, as had been the case ahead of the start of the Q1 earnings season. Second, positive surprises are tracking above historical periods, but they remain below what we had seen in the preceding earnings season, particularly on the revenue front.
Many of you will justifiably look at these issues as nothing more than nit-picking and we acknowledge the all-strength and growth momentum as well. But we can’t ignore the fact that Q1 performance lags what we saw in the preceding earnings season in some respects, particularly how the 2018 Q2 revisions trend is shaping up.
A big part of the positive revisions we saw ahead of the start of the Q1 earnings season reflected the direct impact of the tax law changes, which was obviously a one-off development. Had all positive revisions been a result of tax law changes, we would have seen only EPS estimates go up, with no changes to revenue estimates. But that wasn’t the case, as revenue estimates had gone up as well, which raised our hopes that the aggregate revisions trend had finally turned positive after many years being in the other direction.
We have a busy reporting docket this week, with more than 900 companies reporting Q1 results, including 142 S&P 500 members, and the revisions trend could turn around. But if we haven’t seen evidence of positive revisions thus far, the odds are that we wouldn’t see them in the coming days either.
McDonald’s and Apple are the more notable of the 142 index members coming out with results this week. Other major companies this include Pfizer on Tuesday, May 1st, MasterCard on Wednesday May 2nd and Activision-Blizzard on Thursday May 3rd.
McDonald’s is the notable of the 12 S&P 500 members reporting Q1 results on Monday, April 30th. The fast-good giant is expected to earn $1.67 per share on $4.93 billion in revenues, up +13.6% and down -13.8% from the year-earlier period, respectively. The revisions trend has been stable, though estimates have modestly come down over the last two months. The stock has struggled since late January, down -7.2% in the year-to-date period, lagging the S&P 500 index’s almost flat showing in the same period.
Apple will be in the spotlight on a very busy reporting day on Tuesday, May 1st. The iPhone maker is expected to earn $2.69 per share on $61.1 billion in revenues, up +28.1% and +15.5% from the year-earlier period, respectively. The revisions trend has been negative, with the current $2.69 EPS estimate down from $2.71 a month back and $2.84 three months back. As always, the focus will be on iPhone sales, which are expected to have reached 52.94 million in Q1, up from 50.76 million units in the year-earlier quarter. The company came up short of iPhone shipments expectations in the December quarter when it sold 77.3 million versus expectations of 79.8 million. The stock has lagged the Tech sector in the year-to-date and trailing 12-month period.
Q1 Earnings Season Scorecard (as of Friday, April 27th)
Total earnings for the 267 S&P 500 members that have reported results already are up +25.1% from the same period last year on +10% higher revenues, with 76.8% beating EPS estimates and 73.8% beating revenue estimates. The proportion of companies beating both EPS and revenue estimates is 61.4%.
About Zacks
Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time!Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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McDonald's, Apple, Pfizer, MasterCard and Activision-Blizzard are part of Zacks Earnings Preview
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – April 30, 2018 – Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week’s list includes McDonald’s (MCD - Free Report) , Apple (AAPL - Free Report) , Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) , MasterCard (MA - Free Report) and Activision-Blizzard .
To see more earnings analysis, visit https://at.zacks.com/?id=3207.
Every day, Zacks.com makes their Bull Stock of the Day available, free of charge. To see it, click here.
Q1 Earnings Season: Good, but Not Great
The picture emerging from the Q1 earnings season, which has now crossed the halfway mark, is one of all-around strength, with Q1 earnings and revenue growth on track to reach its highest level in 7 years.
This is a good showing, but two aspects of this earnings season hold us back from calling it a great performance. First, estimates for the current period have failed thus far to go up, as had been the case ahead of the start of the Q1 earnings season. Second, positive surprises are tracking above historical periods, but they remain below what we had seen in the preceding earnings season, particularly on the revenue front.
Many of you will justifiably look at these issues as nothing more than nit-picking and we acknowledge the all-strength and growth momentum as well. But we can’t ignore the fact that Q1 performance lags what we saw in the preceding earnings season in some respects, particularly how the 2018 Q2 revisions trend is shaping up.
A big part of the positive revisions we saw ahead of the start of the Q1 earnings season reflected the direct impact of the tax law changes, which was obviously a one-off development. Had all positive revisions been a result of tax law changes, we would have seen only EPS estimates go up, with no changes to revenue estimates. But that wasn’t the case, as revenue estimates had gone up as well, which raised our hopes that the aggregate revisions trend had finally turned positive after many years being in the other direction.
We have a busy reporting docket this week, with more than 900 companies reporting Q1 results, including 142 S&P 500 members, and the revisions trend could turn around. But if we haven’t seen evidence of positive revisions thus far, the odds are that we wouldn’t see them in the coming days either.
McDonald’s and Apple are the more notable of the 142 index members coming out with results this week. Other major companies this include Pfizer on Tuesday, May 1st, MasterCard on Wednesday May 2nd and Activision-Blizzard on Thursday May 3rd.
McDonald’s is the notable of the 12 S&P 500 members reporting Q1 results on Monday, April 30th. The fast-good giant is expected to earn $1.67 per share on $4.93 billion in revenues, up +13.6% and down -13.8% from the year-earlier period, respectively. The revisions trend has been stable, though estimates have modestly come down over the last two months. The stock has struggled since late January, down -7.2% in the year-to-date period, lagging the S&P 500 index’s almost flat showing in the same period.
Apple will be in the spotlight on a very busy reporting day on Tuesday, May 1st. The iPhone maker is expected to earn $2.69 per share on $61.1 billion in revenues, up +28.1% and +15.5% from the year-earlier period, respectively. The revisions trend has been negative, with the current $2.69 EPS estimate down from $2.71 a month back and $2.84 three months back. As always, the focus will be on iPhone sales, which are expected to have reached 52.94 million in Q1, up from 50.76 million units in the year-earlier quarter. The company came up short of iPhone shipments expectations in the December quarter when it sold 77.3 million versus expectations of 79.8 million. The stock has lagged the Tech sector in the year-to-date and trailing 12-month period.
Q1 Earnings Season Scorecard (as of Friday, April 27th)
Total earnings for the 267 S&P 500 members that have reported results already are up +25.1% from the same period last year on +10% higher revenues, with 76.8% beating EPS estimates and 73.8% beating revenue estimates. The proportion of companies beating both EPS and revenue estimates is 61.4%.
About Zacks
Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time!Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.
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Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.