U.S. equities recovered on Tuesday, owing to a surge in stocks of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and other technology companies. The surge helped major benchmark indexes to recover from their worst drop in four months, fueled by the Coronavirus outbreak.
The three major indices— the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite — closed in the green on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 28,722.85 after gaining 0.7%, the broader S&P 500 reached 3,276.24 after surging 1% and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite hit 9,269.68 after rising 1.4%.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) declined 10.7% to close at 16.28 on Jan 28. Finally, advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.54-to-1 ratio.
Striking Corporate Earnings Stream In
Shares of Apple gained 2.8% in anticipation of the company’s earnings report, which was released after the closing bell on Tuesday. The iPhone maker reported quarterly earnings of $4.99 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.54. This quarterly report indicates toward an earnings surprise of 9.9%.Over the last four quarters, Apple has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times.
The impressive earnings were a partially a result of iPhone revenue, which was up 8% to $55.96 billion, pushed by new iPhone models. The company’s revenues of $91.82 billion for the quarter ended December 2019 also outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.3%. (Read more)
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) also closed 2.6% higher on Tuesday, boosted by its quarterly earnings of $0.32 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.30. This compares to earnings of $0.08 per share a year ago. The semiconductor company’s revenues of $2.13 billion for the quarter ended December 2019 also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.2%. (Read more)
Finally, among major companies that reported their quarterly earnings on Jan 28, Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) shone distinctly. The coffee chain reported quarterly earnings of $0.79 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.76. This quarterly report indicates toward an earnings surprise of 3.95%. The company’s revenues of $7.10 billion for the quarter ended December 2019, however, failed to surpass the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.1%. (Read more)
The coffee giant’s shares lost 0.2% on Tuesday after it announced that it has closed more than half of cafes and stopped delivery for locations in the Hubei province, where the Coronavirus originated. Starbucks also insisted that the arrangement was temporary.
Apple and Starbucks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Advanced Micro Devices carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Economic News
According to the Conference Board, consumer confidence in the United States rose more-than-expected in January as the outlook for the current job market improved and optimism around future job prospects increased. The Consumer Confidence Index rose to 131.6 in January from 126.5 in December.
Per the U.S. Census Bureau, new orders for manufactured durable goods increased $5.7 billion to $245.5 billion in December. Excluding transportation, new orders declined 0.1%. Shipments of manufactured durable goods, which were down for six consecutive months, declined $0.5 billion to hit $250.4 billion last month.
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Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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