Quarterly Earnings Results In Focus

Some of the world’s largest technology firms will be reporting quarterly earnings results this week, including Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Tuesday and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) Wednesday, both after the bell. In addition, by the end of this week we’ll see another Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) non-farm labor report Friday morning, preceded by the private sector jobs survey from ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) Wednesday. Plenty of grist for the mill, one might say.

Should you be an investor who pays attention to such things — and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t — then there are two articles out of our shop well worth reading. Zacks Director of Research Sheraz Mian published his latest Earnings Preview article last Friday afternoon, and you can access it here: The Tech Sector’s Strong Earnings Power. And Zacks Strategist Brian Bolan has just released a succinct but thorough piece on what investors can expect from this week; catch that here: The Week Ahead in One Click.

Earnings Reports Before the Opening Bell

Now for a quick run-down of some of the key companies reporting earnings ahead of the bell today. We remain in the most active part of Q1 earnings season overall, even as we have passed the halfway point for S&P 500 company earnings results.

Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) beat bottom line estimates by 9 cents to 76 cents per share. Revenues missed the Zacks consensus to $3.68 billion on increased customer churn of 1.69% year over year. Following the company’s Q1 release, shares are trading down roughly 0.7% in today’s pre-market.

Conglomerate Loew’s (NYSE:L) posted an impressive beat on the bottom line this morning, reaching 81 cents per share from the 66 cents expected in the Zacks consensus. The Zacks Rank #3 company also put up operating revenue in the quarter of +2% year over year. Shares are up more than 3% ahead of the opening bell.

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) , a medical products provider, also beat earnings expectations this morning, posting $1.53 per share on revenues of $31.8 billion. This amounts to a 7-cent beat over the bottom-line estimate while coming in light on the top line, which was estimated to reach $32.5 billion. Sales growth still rose 4% year over year, but trading is flat from the company’s big drop a few weeks ago.

CNA Financial (NYSE:CNA) , another Zacks Rank #3 stock, topped earrings estimates by 9 cents to 87 cents per share. The company surprised the Street with a whopping +158% jump in net operating income for the quarter on profits that rose nearly 300% year over year. Meanwhile, its P&C combined ratio remains flat.

Zacks Rank #4 (Sell)-rated REIT GGP Inc. (NYSE:GGP) just met FFO per share of 36 cents in the Zacks estimate, on revenues a tad above consensus to $566.3 million. This marks the third quarter in the past four where the real estate investment trust has exactly met FFO projections. Quarterly revenues are lower than a year ago, and pre-trading activity for GGP is nil at this hour.