The Most Important Earnings Charts This Week

Earnings season has officially begun and many expect it to be one of the best in years.

For the S&P 500, earnings are expected to rise 8.8% year-over-year. Wall Street will also be tuning in to see how guidance looks, especially with many companies now updating their outlooks thanks to the new corporate tax cuts.

With the global economy heating up, it may pay to check out companies in sectors you might not have been paying much attention to before including finance, industrials and energy.

These 5 large cap companies are leading off this earnings seasons for their industries and should provide a roadmap for their peers.

Will this earnings season really be as hot as everyone thinks?

5 Important Earnings Charts to Watch This Week

1. CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) recently lost its CEO, Hunter Harrison, but the shares have still busted out to new 5-year highs in 2018 as the transports, especially the railroads, have gotten hot. It has only missed once in the last five years. Watch guidance.

2. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is the second largest component in the Dow after Boeing (NYSE:BA) now that it is trading over $250 per share. It’s nearly 7% of the Dow Industrial index. It has missed only twice in the past 5 years and shares are hitting new 5-year highs. If you care about the direction of the Dow Industrials, this is a “must-watch” report this week.

3. PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) hasn’t missed in 5 years but shares have been trending in a narrow trading range since 2015. This industrial coating manufacturer, headquartered in Pittsburgh, would seem to be an ideal type of company that will see a breakout in 2018.

4. IBM (NYSE:IBM) has only missed twice in 5 years but declining revenue has spooked investors, including Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) which has sold most of its holdings in it. But with blockchain and the cloud companies picking up steam, could IBM transform itself into a blockchain player?

5. Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) has only missed once in 5 years but shares hit a new low in 2017. Yet energy companies have been hot in 2018, including this one. Will it give investors even more reason to celebrate in 2018?

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