Stock Market Futures Soar On Earnings Hype This Week
Stock market futures continue to gain in early morning trading on Thursday. Namely, a flurry of impressive earnings figures remains a core driving force behind this current momentum in the stock market. With more major tech firms set to post their earnings today, a continuation of yesterday’s performance would not be unwarranted. Even with the ongoing issues regarding supply chain constraints and inflation, global demand continues to rise. Because of this, some would argue that the current rally in markets could hold strong in the short to mid-term.
To highlight, one such believer of this bull thesis would be Ryan Payne, president of Payne Capital Management. He recently said, “The consumer’s got tons of cash right now so they don’t mind the fact that they’re raising prices on us – and that’s the story right now,” Payne added, “That’s why profits are going up. You’ve got a very price-insensitive consumer because we’ve got lots of cash. Wages are going up. And companies can keep essentially raising their prices as their costs go up. And that’s why we’re kind of in this Goldilocks economy right now— another reason why the market’s going to continue to climb higher here.”
Meanwhile, the first estimate of third quarter annualized GDP growth data is slated for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. At the same time, a lot of attention will also be on the jobless figures coming from the Labor Department. As of 7:29 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are advancing by 0.22%, 0.32%, and 0.58% respectively.
Ford Firing On All Cylinders This Earnings Season
For legacy automaker Ford (NYSE: F), business appears to be returning to normal. Notably, the auto giant posted blowout figures in its latest fiscal quarter report posted yesterday. In it, Ford saw an earnings per share of $0.51 on revenue of $33.21 billion. To put things into perspective, the company exceeded analyst estimates on both fronts. So much so that its earnings per share is nearly double Wall Street projections of $0.27. Ford cites high demand for its offerings as a key growth driver for the quarter. The likes of which include its electric vehicle (EVs) line-up that continues to gain market share in the U.S.
Given the current performance of its operations, Ford is raising its adjusted earnings guidance for the fiscal year. This includes estimates of $11.5 billion on the high end. Justifying the raise, Ford sees an increase in its current wholesale shipments alongside strong demand for its newer products like the Bronco SUV and Mustang Mach-E. According to the company, both vehicles could account for up to 200,000 units in global sales annually. Not to mention, Ford is also planning to reinstate its quarterly dividend in the fourth quarter. This would mark the return of its regular dividend since the beginning of the pandemic. All this with Ford’s ongoing global push towards EVs could have investors eyeing F stock in the stock market today.
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Apple’s Fiscal Year Report On Tap After The Closing Bell
Another one of the biggest names in tech reporting earnings this week would be Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). For the most part, Apple has and continues to go from strength to strength this fiscal year. From the release of more tightly integrated hardware and subscription services to soaring demand for its latest consumer tech offerings, this is evident. After all, the company’s sticky tech ecosystem highly incentivizes the purchasing of its full spectrum of devices. The likes of which mostly include its cutting-edge iPhone 13 and 2021 Macbooks, the latter of which are sporting its self-made M1 processor chips. With Apple making massive improvements to these devices, they could be a go-to for holiday shoppers this year.
Now, regarding its upcoming earnings call later today, what should investors expect from the tech goliath? Well, Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) analyst Sidney Ho recently provided some insight on this. According to Ho, the recent supply chain bottlenecks “will likely pressure AAPL’s near-term results”. This would be the case as Apple considers slashing its production goals this year due to semiconductor chip shortages. Despite all this, the analyst still holds a Buy rating on AAPL stock as demand for the company’s tech will likely be “pushed into the following quarter”.
Overall, consensus estimates point towards an earnings per share of $1.24 on revenue of $84.8 billion for Apple this quarter. This would suggest sizable year-over-year surges of 70% and 31.1% respectively. Regardless, I can understand if people are tuning in their radars to AAPL stock now.
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Amazon In Focus As Earnings Among Other Holiday Season Moves Make Headlines
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) could also be a closely-watched name in the stock market today. Diving right into it, the e-commerce juggernaut is set to report its third-quarter financials after today’s closing bell. In detail, Wall Street suggests that Amazon could be looking at a total revenue of $111.8 billion for the quarter. On top of that, analysts are also keeping a close eye on its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing revenue. Current forecasts suggest a solid 33% year-over-year increase in AWS’ quarterly revenue to $15.5 billion.
Regardless, earnings are not the only thing putting Amazon in the limelight now. In preparation for the busy year-end shopping season, the company continues to bolster its operations. For starters, Amazon introduced Local Selling, a buy-now-pay-in-store (BOPIS) service for small- and medium-sized businesses. This would provide shoppers and merchants with more flexibility overall.
Additionally, Amazon is also more than ready for any potential supply chain issues moving forward. In a blog post earlier this week, the company notes that “a combination of planes, trucks, ships, vans, and well-staffed warehouses” are on deck this holiday season. All of which serves to put Amazon in a good position to “get customers what they want, when they want it, where they are”. As such, I could see AMZN stock gaining traction today.
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More Earnings To Note In The Stock Market Today
With earnings being the focus in this week’s stock market news, there are obviously plenty of notable names reporting today. In the pre-market hours, we have a wide range of companies today. This includes consumer-tech names like Shopify (NYSE: SHOP), Mastercard (NYSE: MA), Overstock (NASDAQ: OSTK), and Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA). Moreover, giants in their respective industries such as Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Merck (NYSE: MRK), and Altria (NYSE: MO) are also on tap.
Following that would be a wide array of players reporting earnings in the post-market hours as well. This includes Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD), MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), and Atlassian (NASDAQ: TEAM) among others. By and large, it seems like investors can expect another interesting day of earnings ahead, to say the least.
