Markets Deeper In The Red, Q4 Reports Stay Healthy

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Stock market futures are down pretty deeply into the red this morning, after an average close on the main indexes of roughly half a percentage point. However, no blame can be placed on Q4 earnings season, which continues to bring about robust results from companies across the spectrum of industries. Asian markets were down slightly overnight, and later this evening we await President Trump’s initial State of the Union address. Later this week, beginning tomorrow, we start to see new data on January jobs numbers.

Keeping with Q4 earnings results, here are 4 leaders in their respective spaces and how well they have performed relative to expectations, particularly the Zacks consensus estimates:

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) posted strong quarterly numbers both on top- and bottom-lines ahead of the opening bell today. Earnings of $1.71 per share easily outpaced the $1.59 expected. Revenues reached $5.34 billion in the company’s Q4, ahead of the $5.26 billion in the Zacks consensus.

Beating estimates is nothing new for McDonald’s, whose previous average positive earnings surprise over the past 4 quarters was over 5%. In the quarter just reported, McDonald’s benefited from stronger comps, up 5.5% year over year. For more on MCD’s earnings, click here.

Big Pharma player Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) also beat estimates on both earnings and revenues, with 62 cents per share on $13.70 billion in sales topping the 56 cents and $13.61 billion expected, respectively. Earnings growth year over year was a nice 32%, while revenues were up 1%. Revenue guidance for full-year 2018 remains in range of the current Zacks consensus estimate, whereas earnings guidance of between $2.90-3.00 per share is out ahead of the $2.77 we had earlier expected. For more on PFE’s earnings, click here.

Health insurance major Aetna (NYSE:AET) , on the other hand, posted mixed results for its Q4, with $1.23 per share surpassing the $1.18 we were looking for, but revenues of $14.74 billion lower than the $14.89 billion expected, and down further from the $15.72 billion a year ago. Enrollment is down as Congress continues to chip away at the Affordable Care Act, which was good for Aetna: the previous 4 quarters generated an average 23% positive earnings surprise. For more on AET’s earnings, click here.

Global asset management firm T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ:TROW) , a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, also posted earnings and revenue beats for its Q4 report: $1.52 per share outperformed the Zacks consensus by 7 cents, while the $1.29 billion in revenues did better than the $1.27 billion estimated and the $1.09 billion in the year-ago quarter. Bottom-line earnings provided a bigger surprise than the previous 4 quarters’ +1.53% average. For more on TROW’s earnings, click here.

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

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