Credit card issuer and processor American Express (NYSE: AXP) has performed very well in recent years in terms of its fundamental statistics.Sales have grown by 11% per year in the last three years and they were up 9% in the second quarter. The company boasts a return on equity of 31.7%, a profit margin of 18.8%, and an operating margin of 21.3%. Looking at some valuation indicators from the Tickeron fundamental analysis overview, we see a price to book ratio of 4.35 and a P/E ratio of 14.96.

Chip manufacturer Microchip Technology (Nasdaq: MCHP) announced earnings results for its fiscal first quarter after the closing bell on August 6.Revenue has increased by an average of 29% per year over the last three years and the first quarter results were up by 9% over the previous year. Microchip’s management efficiency ratings are really strong with a return on equity of 38.2% and a profit margin of 31.5%. From a valuation standpoint, the company is trading at a trailing P/E ratio of 62.3, but the forward P/E is only 12.25.

Since the low at the beginning of June, semiconductor manufacturer Lam Research (Nasdaq: LRCX) has been trending higher and a trend line connects the stock's lows over the last two months.The stock hit the trend line earlier this week and has bounced since then. We see that the trend line connects the lows from June 17, June 25, and July 8.

The utilities sector is often viewed as a safety sector, offering less risk than the more cyclical sectors.The Utilities Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLU) has dropped 1.3% since July 8 and that is the worst performance among the 10 main sector SPDRs. While the XLU has lagged in the last few weeks, the slight decline has allowed a couple of trend lines to catch up to the fund.

London-based Rio Tinto Group (NYSE: RIO) is in the business of mining aluminum, silver, copper, and gold.If you look at the range, it is 12.3% from the bottom to the top. The Tickeron Trend Prediction Engine generated a bullish signal for Rio Tinto on July 29 and that signal showed a confidence level of 73%.

The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (NYSE: KRE) could be facing a rough stretch over the next month or so—at least based on several indications.The 104-week may sound a little unorthodox, but it represents two year’s worth of prices. Tickeron’s technical analysis overview shows that the KRE moved above its upper Bollinger Band on July 26.

Initially the stock moved higher after the report, but it pulled back with the rest of the market over the past week. Over the last three years, the company has been averaging earnings growth of 15% per year and the second quarter results were up 3% from the previous year.The sales results are being impacted by the company’s plans to shift locations from corporate ownership to more franchise status. Looking at the company’s management efficiency measurements we see a profit margin of 28.3% and an operating margin of 41.8%.

Its loss was in line with analysts’ consensus estimates. Scripps' quarterly revenue of $337.5 million came in higher than the year-ago quarter’s $283.4 million.The figure was also higher than the $335 million that analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected. Revenue from local media was $237 million, +11% higher compared to the same quarter a year ago, while national media revenue was $98.5 million, marking an increase from $68.2 million last year. CEO Adam Symson seems sanguine about Scripps' M&A strategies.

Uber’s second quarter earnings and revenue both fell short of analysts’ expectations, sending its shares lower during pre-market Friday. The ride service hailing technology company reported loss of -$4.72 per share, compared to a loss of- $3.12 per share that the Street expected. Revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter also came in lower than the $3.36 billion expected by analysts. Uber’s core ride-hailing business had $12.19 billion in gross bookings during the second-quarter, surpassing analysts’ estimate of $12.11 billion.But its relatively new business, food delivery service Uber Eats, generated $3.39 billion in gross bookings – lower than analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion in gross bookings. In recent weeks, Uber slashed around 400 jobs from its marketing team. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in a conversation with CNBC mentioned that the company expects losses to narrow in 2020 and 2021, and that 2019 will be its peak investment year

DXC Technology shares were losing more than -31% in trading Friday, following news that the company’s second quarter earnings missed estimates, margins fell from the year-ago period, and the company’s outlook that full-year earnings would fall heavily short of Wall Street estimates. The information tech company reported adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $1.74 a share in the first fiscal quarter  2020, lower than the year-ago quarter’s $1.93. The EPS also fell below Wall Street analysts’ estimates of $1.71 a share. What’s more, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) as a percentage of revenue was 13.3% in the quarter, substantially down from 15.2% a year ago. CEO Mike Lawrie said the company is expecting adjusted earnings per share for the full year to be in the range of $7 to $7.75, far below the average Wall Street estimate of $8.20 for the year.  

CBS and Viacom are reportedly not yet ready to announce a merger – atleast not by Thursday when CBS reports its quarterly earnings. According to a CNBC report, sources familiar with matter indicated that the media giants are still deliberating/negotiating on the exchange ratio for the merger.Speculations are rife that a deal could be announced in the coming days. Shari Redstone, vice chairwoman of the board at CBS and Viacom, has suggested for a deal that boosts the combined company’s position in the media market and allow it to compete better with tech behemoths (including Amazon and Apple) for entertainment and sports rights, like the National Football League.  CBS currently owns NFL broadcast rights until 2022 – it is apparently determined to do what it takes to renew them. The merger, if goes through, is expected to see Viacom CEO Bob Bakish take over as CEO of the combined company, according to sources (as mentioned by CNBC). 

CVS Health Corp. topped second quarter earnings expectations and raised its full-year profit guidance, leading to a climb in its stock price Wednesday. For the three months ending June, the retail pharmacy and pharmacy benefit manager reported adjusted earnings of $1.89 per share, marking a +11.8% increase from the year-ago quarter and a significant beat on the Street estimate of $1.69 per share. Total revenues for the quarter  climbed +35.2% year-over-year to $63.4 billion, also exceeding analysts' forecasts of $62.66 billion.Sales from Aetna (which CVS acquired in 2018) emerged as a significant contributor to the overall revenue growth. Revenues from Pharmacy Services rose +4.2% to $34.8 billion.

On Wednesday, courier delivery service company FedEx revealed that it will end its ground-delivery contract with Amazon, and that it won’t renew it at the end of the month. FedEx dubbed the cancellation as a “strategy to focus on the broader e-commerce market”. In June, FedEx had announced that it was ending its express U.S. shipping contract with the e-commerce giant, a decision which only affected air services. At the time, FedEx said that less than 1.3% of its total revenue came from serving Amazon during the 12-month period ended Dec. 31. In late June, Amazon unveiled its Delivery Service Partners program through which it aims to attract entrepreneurs who can create their own local delivery networks with up to 40 vans each.

Liberty Global (Nasdaq: LBTYK) is a provider of video, broadband internet, mobile telephone, and land-line telephone services to European customers.The company was founded in 2004 and is based in London, England. The company has been struggling in recent years with the company losing money and sales declining.

  A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said that Chinese companies have stopped purchasing U.S. agricultural products in response to U.S. President Trump’s latest  10% tariffs on additional $300 billion of Chinese goods. The department also indicated it would “not rule out” tariffs on newly bought agricultural goods after August 3. Previously, Trump had said that he had secured a large amount of agricultural purchases after meeting with China President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in June.But later, Trump alleged that China is not staying true to the agreement,  and then he announced on Thursday the 10% tariffs on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports. China accounted for $5.6 billion in U.S. farm product exports in 2018, according to the U.S. Census.

Cisco announced that it wants to buy business communication company Voicea, to  further strengthen its own collaboration/video-conferencing platform, Webex.  Voicea offers meeting transcription, voice search, and meeting highlights., By acquiring Voicea, Cisco hopes to add those functionalities to its Webex platform, especially in a way that bolsters Artificial Intelligence-driven, Cognitive Collaboration across an entire portfolio of products/services.Voicea’s technology could potentially help Cisco make meetings more engaging for people/businesses by allowing them to add calls to messaging streams, personalize and access transcribed notes among other features. The company did not provide financial details for the potential acquisition.  WebEx is used by more than 130 million people a month.

Ford Motor Co. shares got a boost in rating and a hike in price target from Morgan Stanley analysts. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas raised his rating on the automaker to 'Overweight' from 'Equalweight" in a client note Tuesday.The collaboration will focus on commercial vehicles and could later expand to electric and self-driving vehicles.

However, the adjusted EPS was just under -1% from the year-ago quarter. Total revenues declined -0.8% to $4.09 billion, but beat analysts' estimates of $3.93 billion. CEO Brent Saunders emphasized that Allergan delivered steady growth in key products including Botox, Vraylar and Ozurdex. Looking ahead, Allergan expects its net non-GAAP revenues of $15.4 billion to $15.6 billion for the full-year 2019, up from $15.1 billion to $15.4 billion.It maintained its forecast of non-GAAP earnings of around $16.55 per share.  In late June, AbbVie announced that it will pay $188.24 each in cash and shares for Allergan's outstanding common stock, representing a 45% premium to the group's closing price on June 24.

Tanger Outlet Centers (NYSE: SKT) is set to announce second quarter earnings results on Wednesday, July 31.The company is expected to earn $0.24 per share on the quarter and that matches the earnings from the second quarter of 2018. The stock has been trending lower for several years now, but the last six months really caught my attention.

Chevron Corp. reported second quarter earnings that edged past analysts’ expectations, even as revenue missed estimates. The energy company’s earnings for the three months ending in June surged around +27.5% year-over-year to $2.27 per share, crushing the Street consensus forecast of $1.78 per share. The company benefited from a $1 billion termination fee it received after Occidental Petroleum bought Anadarko Petroleum with a winning $38 billion bid.The termination fee added $720 million to the quarter’s profit, Chevron said. However, total revenue for the company declined -21% from the year-ago quarter to $36 billion, falling short of analysts' estimates of $40.55 billion. While its U.S. shale production climbed +21% during the quarter, it was offset by sharply lower oil and gas prices.  Chevron’s daily production of oil and gas rose +9.1% to 3.08 million barrels - a record high for the company.  The company indicated that it  expects to buy back $5 billion i