PNC Financial posted fourth quarter earnings that exceeded analysts' forecasts.Its revenue, too, beat expectations.

The financial services company’s earnings came in at $3.26 a share, compared to the $2.59  share expected by analysts polled by Investing.com .Its revenue of $4.21B also topped estimate of $4.13B.

 

JPMorgan Chase reported fourth quarter earnings  that topped analysts’ estimates, thanks to  record trading performance and the effect of releasing funds previously set aside for loan losses.

The banking behemoth’s earnings for the quarter came in at $3.79 a share, surpassing the $2.62 per share estimate of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. Fixed income revenue of $3.95 billion was just below the $4.12 billion estimate.

CEO Jamie Dimon mentioned news of effective coronavirus vaccines and fresh round of government stimulus as reasons for taking down the bank’s reserves.

Citigroup reported fourth-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ estimates.

The bank’s earnings fell -7% year-over-year to $4.63 billion -- or $2.08 a share, compared with the $1.34 a share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Revenue decreased -10% from the prior year quarter to $16.5 billion, slightly below analysts’ expectation of $16.7 billion.

The bank released $1.5 billion in reserves for credit losses, an amount that’s larger than analysts had expected.In the third quarter it has reserve of  $436 million.

Trend Predictions from January 14, I couldn’t help but notice three semiconductor companies with smaller, but still large-cap, stocks that received bullish signals with high probabilities of success.

All three stocks get a “strong buy” rating from Tickeron’s scorecard and the signals all had confidence levels of 88%-89%.All three have market caps below $25 billion and they score very well on the fundamental and technical screener.

All three stocks get one negative score on their fundamental analysis, but it’s a different indicator in each case.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected $19.347 billion. 

Net interest income was $9.275 billion, down $17 million.Its non-accrual loans increased to $8.73 billion from $5.65 billion mainly due to increases in the commercial real estate, residential mortgage and lease financing portfolios, partially offset by a decrease in the commercial and industrial portfolio - according to the company's statement.

The Federal Reserve has given the nod to several big U.S. banks including Wells Fargo to resume share buybacks in the first quarter of 2021.

 

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Delta Airlines posted substantial loss for the last quarter of 2020, amid coronavirus pandemic.

The air carrier’s adjusted loss of -$2.53 per share was even steeper than the -$2.49 expected by consensus compiled by Bloomberg.Operating revenue plunged -69% year-over-year $3.5 billion, vs.  $3.58 billion expected by analysts.

The company lost -$755 million in net income during the quarter.

Asset management behemoth BlackRock reported a fourth quarter earnings that beat analysts’ expectation,  thanks to  higher fees (its biggest source of revenue) on greater activity in financial markets.

The company’s adjusted net income came in at $10.18 per share in the quarter ended Dec. 31, exceeding the Street estimates of $9.14 ( according to Refinitiv IBES data)

BlackRock's assets under management grew to $8.68 trillion as of the quarter’s end, from $7.43 trillion a year earlier.

Investors poured money into BlackRock’s exchange-traded funds, as well as active funds, amid increased market volatility due to  the U.S. presidential elections and the release of some Covid-19 vaccines.As a result, BlackRock earned higher investment and advisory fees, through the quarter.

The oil services industry got hit as hard as any during the first quarter of 2020.The questions is, can the stocks keep the rally going with earnings expected to be down compared to last year’s results?

I put together the following table to show where the EPS estimates are for each company and how that compares to Q4 2019 and to the third quarter.

Shares of fitness company Peloton  got a price target hike from  analysts at Bank of America, who also affirmed their buy rating on the stock.

The  Bank of America analysts boosted their price target to $175 from $150 .

Bank of America Securities analyst Justin Post noted that visits to the Peloton website in the fiscal second quarter ending December surged +167% year-over-year.While the growth was slower compared to the first quarter’s  +289% year-over-year but was well above competition, according to Post.

Post said also mentioned that posts related to Peloton on Instagram  rose +71% year over year and were up +92% on Twitter.

The analyst also said that while the company's almost $50 billion valuation implies a risk, the outlook remains "constructive” on the stock ahead of the full U.S. lower-priced tread launch to happen likely in March.

Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software announced that it won’t make an offer higher than peer Electronic Arts’  $1.2 billion bid for U.K. racing game publisher Codemasters Group.

Back on December 14, 2020, Take-Two Interactive was advised by the Board of Codemasters to withdraw its offer for acquiring the game developer.With the deadline (Jan 12) recently passing, Take-Two has decided to no longer pursue the acquisition of Codemasters.

“Take-Two remains a highly disciplined organization and, with its strong balance sheet, will continue to pursue selectively organic and inorganic opportunities that are designed to enhance the company's long-term growth and deliver results to its shareholders,” the company said in a statement.

GameStop   recently named board members and released solid holiday sales figures.

The videogame retail company placed three of  activist investor's RC Ventures nominees -- Alan Attal, Ryan Cohen and Jim Grube -- on the board.Comparable-store sales climbed +4.8%.

According to the company’s statement,  consumer demand far outpaced supply in the nine-week period with “unprecedented demand” for recently launched gaming consoles.

Consumers have changed their preferred living arrangements and that has created an increase in the demand for single-family homes.

Because of the increase in demand for homes, the stocks of homebuilders have rallied sharply since last March.The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) was below $25 at its low in March and it recently moved above the $60 level.

The fourth quarter earnings season has arrived and it will kick off with earnings reports from Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC) on January 15.The companies are expected to see earnings move in different directions compared to what we saw in the third quarter and compared to Q4 of last year.

Citigroup’s EPS estimate is $1.33 and that is 5% lower than the third quarter EPS figure and 38.14% lower than Q4 of 2019.

Ford Motor is ending vehicle manufacturing in Brazil, as part of a restructuring process.

The automaker is shutting three plants in Brazil, as part of the South America restructuring process which is estimated to lead to $4.1 billion in pretax charges, according to the company’s statement.

Ford is currently restructuring its global operations, including those in South America.The company aims to execute a $11 billion turnaround plan, and hopes to achieve an 8% adjusted EBIT margin and to consistently generate strong adjusted free cash flow.

Shares of Chinese electric carmaker NIO   unveiled its first battery-powered sedan ET7.Deliveries will begin the first quarter of 2022.

NIO also launched a bigger volume battery pack that promises to boost driving range, an upgraded autopilot system and the second iteration of its battery-swap station.

The ET7 offers two battery options, 70 kWh and 100 kWh, that provide a range of 311 miles and 435 miles, respectively.

The company expects revenue growth at the high end of its mid-to-high teens expectation.  

Ahead of the group's presentation to the ICR investor conference, CEO Calvin McDonald cited the momentum over the holiday period, and said that the investments in lululemon and MIRROR helped connect with guests both physically and digitally."We remain confident about our opportunities in 2021 and committed to our Power of Three growth plan.” , added McDonald.

What’s more, Lululemon’s  online sales surged by an annual rate of +93% last quarter, and are expected to offset any declines in physical sales volumes over the fourth quarter. 

On Friday, Twitter Inc. announced its decision to  permanently suspend the accounts of President Donald Trump, citing potential incitement of violence,.The microblogging company’s decision came in the aftermath of the a pro-Trump mob storming the Capitol last week land leading to atleast five deaths.

"After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," Twitter said in a statement.

Twitter’s move was followed by Facebook ‘s indefinite suspension of   the President's account on both its namesake website and Instagram.

E-commerce company Shopify  shutdown two sites affiliated with the Trump campaign.

The rallies off the March lows and then after the little hiccups we saw in September and October have put the four main U.S. indices in overbought territory based on the weekly RSI and weekly stochastic indicators.Stocks that don’t have the best fundamentals, but have gone up with the overall market and have elevated overbought/oversold indicators.

Something that stood out in my search was a trio of software stocks with poor fundamental indicators and high readings on their weekly OB/OS indicators.

The new item, which will begin to be served across all its restaurants by the end of February, is  double-breaded with extra crispy chicken and thicker pickles.

The new addition  will be available seven days a week in all 4,000 KFC restaurants in the U.S. by the end of February, according to the the company.It will be priced at $3.99 a la carte , and $6.99 in a combo meal along with french fries and a drink.

"We tested the new KFC Chicken Sandwich in Orlando last spring, and we nearly doubled our sales expectations, so we knew that we had a winner," said Andrea Zahumensky, chief marketing officer of KFC U.S.

 

 

Financial behemoth Wells Fargo  shares got  a rating boost to buy from hold, from Jefferies analyst Ken Usdin.He also  raised his share price target to $38 a share from $26.

Calling Wells a " still-discounted turnaround story”, Usdin said that it is approaching  a positive rate-of-change in many parts of the franchise.