Q2 Earnings Ball Keeps Rolling: MCD, CAT, MMM & More

Tuesday, July 25th, 2017

Following the sell-off that came after Google parent company Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) bottom-line miss after the bell yesterday — based on a gigantic one-time payout of a settlement with the EU for $2.7 billion — Q2 earnings season does not pump the breaks; it keeps going, with several Dow components having reported before the bell today. As far as Alphabet is concerned, investors will be looking for signs that anti-trust cases like the one that resulted in the GOOGL settlement with the EU was a simple anomaly or a sign of things to come for the search giant.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) kept its impressive streak of positive earnings surprises alive with an 11-cent beat to $1.73 per share, on quarterly sales of nearly $6.05 billion, higher than the $6 billion expected. Strong global comps bolstered the quick-service giant, up 6.6% year after year (+4% in the previous quarter), and pre-market trading of MCD shares is up 3% at this hour. We look for a possible change to its current Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) rating in the coming days.

Farm and mining equipment major Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) posted $1.49 per share this morning on $11.3 billion in revenues, surpassing the $1.26 per share and $10.95 billion estimated. This marks at least the fifth straight positive earnings surprise for the Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company, which also raised 2017 guidance for both sales and earnings. CAT stock is up 5% in today’s pre-market.

Chemicals giant DuPont (NYSE:DD) also kept a nice string of earnings beats alive this morning, putting up $1.38 per share, ahead of the $1.29 in the Zacks consensus estimate. Revenues grew 5% year over year to $7.42 billion, higher than the $7.26 billion expected. The Zacks Rank #3 company looks toward its merger with Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) next month, with spinoffs to follow in the moths ahead.

Minnesota-based 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) missed estimates on both top and bottom lines this morning, falling short on the bottom line by a penny to $2.58 per share on quarterly sales of $7.81 billion, beneath the Zacks consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. That said, the conglomerate raised the bottom end of its 2017 earnings guidance, though shares are selling off a bit in toad’s pre-market.

Finally, United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) topped earnings estimates by 8 cents to $1.85 per share on $15.28 billion in revenues for Q2, ahead of the $15.18 billion expected. The company has also raised the lower end of its guidance this morning, and we see shares of UTX trading up 1.5% in today’s early market.

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

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Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report

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United Technologies Corporation (UTX): Free Stock Analysis Report

Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT): Free Stock Analysis Report

McDonald's Corporation (MCD): Free Stock Analysis Report

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