Stock Futures Rise on Positive Earnings From GE, Visa
Stock futures edged higher on Friday as better-than-expected earnings reports from a number of companies including General Electric (GE) - Get Report and Visa (V) - Get Report lent a positive air to the end of the week.
S&P 500 futures were higher by 0.16%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 0.11%, and Nasdaq futures rose 0.13%.
The Dow snapped a seven-day streak of record closes on Thursday on a mix of earnings from the likes of Southwest (LUV) - Get Report and Intel (INTC) - Get Report . The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also closed lower.
General Electric posted adjusted earnings of 51 cents a share in the second quarter, topping analysts' forecasts of 46 cents. Revenue rose 15% to $33.5 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $31.9 billion. Shares fell 2.7% in premarket trading after heading higher earlier in the session.
General Electric is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells GE? Learn more now.
Honeywell (HON) - Get Report earned $1.66 a share in the second quarter, beating forecasts by 2 cents. The company said it was raising the low-end of its full-year earnings guidance range to $6.60 to $6.70 a share.
PayPal (PYPL) - Get Report announced a partnership agreement with Visa (V) - Get Report , wherein a greater number of stores will be able to accept payment through the online company. PayPal also beat analysts' estimates after reporting its second-quarter results.
"The new agreement will allow PayPal to gain access to Visa tokenization services, beginning in the United States," wrote Jim Cramer, TheStreet's founder and manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, and research manager Jack Mohr. Action Alerts PLUS owns shares of both PayPal and Visa in its portfolio.
Visa earnings also exceeded estimates. The credit-card company earned 69 cents a share, 2 cents above expectations. Revenue of $3.6 billion was in-line with estimates. Visa also announced a $5 billion stock repurchase program.
AT&T (T) - Get Report reported a mixed quarter with in-line earnings and disappointing revenue. The telecom giant earned an adjusted 72 cents a share in its June quarter, as expected, while sales of $40.52 billion missed forecasts of $40.61 billion.
Pandora (P) slid in premarket trading following a dip in the number of listeners over its recent quarter. The music-streaming site reported 78.1 million active listeners by the end of the quarter, down from 79.4 million a year earlier. Total listener hours rose 7%. Analysts had expected the number of active listeners to increase to 80.3 million.
Starbucks (SBUX) - Get Report fell 1% after missing sales estimates in its recent quarter on slowing growth in the domestic market. The coffee chain reported revenue of $5.24 billion, $100 million lower than estimated. Guidance also failed to surpass estimates. Starbucks anticipates fourth-quarter profit between 54 cents and 55 cents a share, while analysts expected 55 cents.
Starbucks is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells SBUX? Learn more now.
Chipotle (CMG) - Get Report slipped as the fallout from a months-long health scare continued to affect its bottom line. The burrito chain earned 87 cents a share, a sharp decline from $4.45 a share in the year-ago quarter. Analysts expected earnings of 91 cents. Same-restaurant sales slumped 23.6%.
Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has resigned from his post, effective immediately, after a string of sexual harassment allegations led by former anchor Gretchen Carlson. Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of parent company 21st Century Fox (FOXA) - Get Report , will assume the position as acting CEO.