First Quarter Earnings Reports In Focus

Among the new onslaught of Q1 earnings reports hitting the tape ahead of Tuesday’s market open, we see several blow-out numbers from some of the leading companies from a variety of industries. In the interest of keeping things simple while we enjoy a cup of coffee, we’ll keep this to just the pre-market home runs, like a highlight reel of a baseball game:

Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) more than doubled earnings expectations this morning, posting $1.28 per share compared to the 62 cents in the Zacks consensus estimate. The Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company also put up a big beat on the top line: $9.8 billion beat the $9.36 billion expected. It’s at least the 5th straight quarter of earnings beat, but the 106% positive surprise dwarfs the trailing 4-quarter average of a 13.6% beat. Pre-market shares of CAT are up 5%, and the company hiked fiscal year guidance, as well. For more, click here.

Chemicals major DuPont (NYSE:DD) also reported strong results for its Q1, $1.64 per share on $7.74 billion in sales far outweighed the Zacks consensus estimates of $1.38 per share and $7.54 billion, respectively. Revenues are up 5% year over year while earnings growth zooms into double-digits. The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company with a Zacks Style Score (Value, Growth, Momentum) of B keeps its streak of 5 straight double-digit positive earnings surprises alive, and pre-market shares for DD are +2%. For more, click here.

McDonalds (NYSE:MCD) , a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company with a Zacks Style Score of D (prior to its Q1 release) also left expectations in the dust: $1.47 per share surpassed the $1.32 expected, whereas the $5.676 billion in quarterly sales easily topped the $5.48 billion in the Zacks consensus.Q1 global comps were +4% in the quarter, +1.7% domestically. Again, a long line of positive earnings surprises continues for MCD, and shares — up 40% over the last 24 months — look to approach all-time highs as the market opens today.

Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), Style Score A company Corning (NYSE:GLW) took out bottom line estimates by 4 cents to 39 cents per share, whereas its $2.49 billion surpassed expectations of $5.36 billion for Q1. This 11% beat is better than the trailing 4-quarter average of +9.9% positive surprise, all of which bettered estimates. The chip-based ceramics maker is trading up more than 2% following the favorable results, and GLW shares have gained over 30% since this time last year. For more, click here.