Mixed Q3 Earnings Pour In

With no economic data being reported ahead of the market open this Friday (at 10am we get a new read on Leading Economic Indicators, as well as speeches from Fed members Kaplan, George and Clarida ahead of the committee’s quiet period prior to their next meeting at the end of the month), we turn our attention to Q3 earnings reports. Now that we’ve gone through most of the big banks, earnings season opens up to a wider swath of industries.

Coca Cola ( (NYSE:KO) ) reported in-line results for its Q3 report, bringing in 56 cents per share on $9.51 billion in revenues. This top-line figure actually amounts to a positive surprise of 0.24%, and up from the $8.25 billion reported in the year-ago quarter. Earnings posted 58 cents per share a year ago.

Coke has lagged the S&P 500 year to date — up 13.6% since early January versus +19.6% in the S&P — with a Zacks Industry Rank in the bottom 30%. That said, the soft-drink giant is pushing toward new multi-year highs in today’s pre-market, up 2.68% thus far in early trading. For more on KO’s earnings, click here.

American Express ( (NYSE:AXP) ) also posted a narrow beat on its top line — $10.99 billion — while beating earnings estimates by a penny to $2.08 per share. This compares to $1.88 per share reported in Q3 2018, and is also trading near multi-year highs, up 1.66% at this early hour. Shares are up 25% year to date. For more on AXP’s earnings, click here.

Oilfield services major Schlumberger ( (NYSE:SLB) ) put up mixed results in its earnings report this morning, beating on the bottom line by 3 cents to 43 cents per share (though down from the 46 cents per share reported a year ago) on $8.54 billion, which narrowly missed expectations by 0.67% in the quarter. The company has not missed on earnings since Q1 2016, though the stock continues to wallow at multi-year lows, and is down another 0.19% in the pre-market. For more on SLB’s earnings, click here.

ManpowerGroup ( (NYSE:MAN) ) missed expectations on both top and bottom lines this morning, by a penny to $1.92 per share (compared with $2.47 per share last year this time) while $5.25 in revenues missed the Zacks consensus by 1.9%, and down from the $5.42 billion in the year-ago quarter. This is only the second miss in the last five years for this company, and after gaining 32.5% year to date, MAN is giving back 1.55% in early trading today. For more on MAN’s earnings, click here.