Q2 Earnings Mix With Early Econ Data: FB, GRPN, ORCL, F, MC

Thursday, July 28, 2016

So many more Q2 earnings reports since regular trading ended Wednesday afternoon, it’s literally difficult to count them all. But as econ data begins to take a larger role in what investors are looking for beginning next week with July job results and other macro-numbers.

To wit, Initial Jobless Claims for the week rose by 14K to a revised-lower 252K last week to 266K. Still in range with the 4-week moving average, which has been solidly between the 250-275K range for quite some time now. The only indication for next week’s non-farm payroll report is that there does not seem to be any sort of outlier that might swing results far in either direction (then again, that’s what we said before May brought in just 11K new jobs).

The market is not pricing in a September rate hike based on interpretations following the Fed meeting yesterday. The Fed has continually said it will remain data-dependent regarding raising interest rates; currently, there is not even a 50% chance the Fed will raise by December of this year.

In cloud enterprise M&A news, Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) has purchased Netsuite (NYSE:N) for $9.3 billion in an all-cash deal. Netsuite shares are bidding up roughly 18% so far in the pre-market, toward the premium Oracle has agreed to pay for it. This puts similar cloud-based competitors like salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) on alert. Is this the beginning of cloud-based mergers?

Finally, a quick Q2 earnings run-down: Facebook (NYSE:F) hit a home run yesterday after the bell on impressive ad revenue per active user, and the social media giant is up 4% ahead of Thursday’s open. Groupon (NYSE:N) added a million new customers in its latest earnings release, and the shares shot up 24% after the bell yesterday. Whole Foods (NYSE:F) , meanwhile, has posted lower profits for the fourth quarter in a row, and shares are trading down close to 5% this morning.

Ford (NYSE:F) missed analyst estimates this morning, and shares are trading down ahead of today’s open. Raytheon (NYSE:N) beats on both top and bottom lines, and raised its forecast; shares are up this morning. And Master Card (NYSE:MC) is also trading up in the pre-market on a big beat on both earnings and revenues.

For in-depth consideration of how Q2 earnings season is unfolding, click here for Zacks Director of Research Sheraz Mian’s latest Earnings Trends report.

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

FORD MOTOR CO (F): Free Stock Analysis Report

SALESFORCE.COM (CRM): Free Stock Analysis Report

ORACLE CORP (ORCL): Free Stock Analysis Report

NETSUITE INC (N): Free Stock Analysis Report

RAYTHEON CO (RTN): Free Stock Analysis Report

MOELIS & CO (MC): Free Stock Analysis Report

GROUPON INC (GRPN): Free Stock Analysis Report

FACEBOOK INC-A (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report

WHOLE FOODS MKT (WFM): Free Stock Analysis Report

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