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General Motors (GM - Free Report) , grappling with a United Auto Workers (UAW) strike that brought a billion-dollar negative impact to its just-reported Q3 earnings report (amounting to 52 cents per share), managed to impress investors this morning with beats on both top and bottom lines. Earnings of $1.72 per share easily surpassed the $1.18 analysts were expecting. Revenues of $35.47 billion were well ahead of the $34.15 billion anticipated.
GM has only missed estimates twice in the last five years, so even with the workers’ strike headwinds it’s not too much of a surprise the company beat on the bottom line. But $3 billion in earnings from North America — with crossover vehicles establishing a new quarterly record — is stellar performance for the American car-maker. That said, based on UAW issues, the company expects a $2.9 billion impact, and has such lowered earnings guidance to $4.50-4.80 for full-year 2019. The Zacks consensus had been $5.92 per share.
The company had been a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) going into its earnings release, yet shares are up 2.2% in today’s pre-market. GM stock has been up and down year to date, but has traded within a range between $32 and $41 per share. With today’s news, GM is climbing back up toward the higher end of this range.
Zacks Rank #3-rated Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) also outperformed on its top and bottom lines — 75 cents per share versus 63 expected (78 cents in the year-ago quarter), on $12.68 billion which bettered the Zacks consensus by 4.38% ($13.30 billion a year ago). The company has raised full-year guidance as well, and shares — which had only gained 14.6% year to date, beneath the S&P 500’s 21.3% — are up 3.14% in today’s pre-market. For more on PFE’s earnings, click here.
Keeping with Big Pharma another moment, Zacks Rank #3-rated Merck (MRK - Free Report) clobbered earnings estimates — $1.51 per share versus $1.25 expected, and $1.19 in the year-ago quarter — on $12.40 billion in revenues, a solid improvement on the $10.79 billion reported a year ago. Its cancer drug Keytruda brought in an incredible $3 billion in the quarter, and the company has raised forecasts in its full-year numbers. Merck had only gained 7.6% yeat to date, but is up another 2% in today’s early trading.
Mastercard (MA - Free Report) also outdid expectations on both top and bottom lines — $2.15 per share versus $2.01 ($1.78 a year ago), on $4.47 billion in revenues, up nearly 1% and above last year’s $3.90 billion. These positive results indicate the American consumer is still spending money, obviously a positive for the U.S. economy. Shares are up 1% in pre-market activity, and +46.3% year to date. For more on MA’s earnings, click here.
In other news, the Case-Shiller home prices for August — clearly a lagging indicator — came in-line with expectations at +3.2%. Top cities in the 20-city composite for home sales growth were Phoenix (+6.3%), Charlotte (+4.5%) and Tampa (+4.3%). The worst performing cities for the month were Los Angeles (-1%), New York (-0.9%) and Seattle (-0.7%).
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Q3 Earnings Bonanza: GM, MRK, MA & More
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
General Motors (GM - Free Report) , grappling with a United Auto Workers (UAW) strike that brought a billion-dollar negative impact to its just-reported Q3 earnings report (amounting to 52 cents per share), managed to impress investors this morning with beats on both top and bottom lines. Earnings of $1.72 per share easily surpassed the $1.18 analysts were expecting. Revenues of $35.47 billion were well ahead of the $34.15 billion anticipated.
GM has only missed estimates twice in the last five years, so even with the workers’ strike headwinds it’s not too much of a surprise the company beat on the bottom line. But $3 billion in earnings from North America — with crossover vehicles establishing a new quarterly record — is stellar performance for the American car-maker. That said, based on UAW issues, the company expects a $2.9 billion impact, and has such lowered earnings guidance to $4.50-4.80 for full-year 2019. The Zacks consensus had been $5.92 per share.
The company had been a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) going into its earnings release, yet shares are up 2.2% in today’s pre-market. GM stock has been up and down year to date, but has traded within a range between $32 and $41 per share. With today’s news, GM is climbing back up toward the higher end of this range.
Zacks Rank #3-rated Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) also outperformed on its top and bottom lines — 75 cents per share versus 63 expected (78 cents in the year-ago quarter), on $12.68 billion which bettered the Zacks consensus by 4.38% ($13.30 billion a year ago). The company has raised full-year guidance as well, and shares — which had only gained 14.6% year to date, beneath the S&P 500’s 21.3% — are up 3.14% in today’s pre-market. For more on PFE’s earnings, click here.
Keeping with Big Pharma another moment, Zacks Rank #3-rated Merck (MRK - Free Report) clobbered earnings estimates — $1.51 per share versus $1.25 expected, and $1.19 in the year-ago quarter — on $12.40 billion in revenues, a solid improvement on the $10.79 billion reported a year ago. Its cancer drug Keytruda brought in an incredible $3 billion in the quarter, and the company has raised forecasts in its full-year numbers. Merck had only gained 7.6% yeat to date, but is up another 2% in today’s early trading.
Mastercard (MA - Free Report) also outdid expectations on both top and bottom lines — $2.15 per share versus $2.01 ($1.78 a year ago), on $4.47 billion in revenues, up nearly 1% and above last year’s $3.90 billion. These positive results indicate the American consumer is still spending money, obviously a positive for the U.S. economy. Shares are up 1% in pre-market activity, and +46.3% year to date. For more on MA’s earnings, click here.
In other news, the Case-Shiller home prices for August — clearly a lagging indicator — came in-line with expectations at +3.2%. Top cities in the 20-city composite for home sales growth were Phoenix (+6.3%), Charlotte (+4.5%) and Tampa (+4.3%). The worst performing cities for the month were Los Angeles (-1%), New York (-0.9%) and Seattle (-0.7%).
Mark Vickery
Senior Editor
Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>
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The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.
Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +98%, +119% and +164% in as little as 1 month. The stocks in this report could perform even better.
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