Markets Surge on Strong Corporate Earnings and Potential Tax Plan: Today’s Research Reports on Qualcomm and Verizon

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 21, 2017 / U.S. markets surged Thursday on the strength of the latest batch of corporate earnings and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s comment that the Trump Administration was close to releasing a “major tax reforms”. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.85 percent to close at 20,578.71, while the S&P 500 rose 0.76 percent to close at 2,355.84.

Data from Thomson Reuters shows that out of the 82 S&P 500 companies who have reported earnings through Thursday afternoon, approximately 75 percent have surpassed expectations, topping the average of 71 percent over the past 4 quarters. The profit of S&P 500 companies is estimated to increase by 11.1 percent in the quarter, according to Reuters.

“They really are just focusing now on the micro, which they should be, on the earnings and what the earnings are saying,” Ken Polcari, Director of the NYSE floor division at O’Neil Securities, told Reuters. “Investors are putting the geopolitical stuff to the back of the bus at the moment and they are really focusing on what they should be.”

RDI Initiates
Coverage on:

Qualcomm Inc.
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=QCOM

Verizon Communications Inc.
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=VZ

Qualcomm’s shares increased 0.10 percent to close at $52.66 a share on Thursday. The stock traded between $51.40 and $53.40 on volume of 24.66 million shares traded. The company reported a profit of $749 million, or $0.50 a share, on revenues of $5 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2017. Adjusted earnings were $1.34 a share for the fiscal second quarter. Average analysts estimates called for adjusted earnings of $1.19 a share on sales of $5.86 billion, according to FactSet. Qualcomm forecasts an adjusted profit of $0.90 to $1.15 per share and revenue of $5.3 billion to $6.1 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2017, compared to average analysts’ expectations of a profit of $1.09 per share and revenue of $5.94 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Shares of Qualcomm have fallen 19.23 percent year-to-date.

Access RDI’s Qualcomm Research Report at:
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=QCOM

Verizon Communications’ shares declined 1.02 percent to close at $48.41 a share on Thursday. The stock traded between $47.71 and $48.62 on volume of 30.40 million shares traded. The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.95 on revenue of $29.8 billion for the first quarter of 2017, which fell short of consensus analysts’ estimates of adjusted earnings per share of $0.96 on revenues of $30.487 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenues for Verizon’s wireless business declined 5.1 percent year-over-year to $20.9 billion in the first quarter. The company reported a net decline of 307,000 retail postpaid connections in first-quarter 2017, including 289,000 phone losses. Shares of Verizon Communications have fallen approximately 9.31 percent year-to-date.

“Our first-quarter results again demonstrated that customers value a high-quality network experience,” said Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam in the earnings release. “To build on our loyal customer base and the third-party recognition we have received for network leadership, we extended our wireless and fiber network capabilities, began offering an unlimited pricing option and expanded our opportunities in new markets. We’re executing on strategies to capture future growth and create long-term shareholder value.”

Access RDI’s Verizon Communications Research Report
at:
https://ub.rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=VZ

Our Actionable Research on Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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Disclaimer: This article is written by an independent contributor of RDInvesting.com and reviewed by Nadia Noorani, CFA® charter holder. RDInvesting.com is neither a registered broker dealer nor a registered investment advisor. For more information please read our full disclaimer at www.rdinvesting.com/disclaimer.

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