Revenue increased to $1.36 billion from $1.28 billion.

According to the company, revenue growth was due to continued demand for personal protective equipment and sanitizer products to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic,  support resumption of manufacturing and construction activity, and support sales to new customers.

For the fourth quarter, Fastenal paid out its regular dividend of 25 cents a share plus a special dividend of 40 cents, with the latter reflecting "high cash balances and favorable financial outlook."

For the first quarter, Fastenal announced a dividend of 28 cents a share, payable March 3 to holders of record Feb. 3. 

The company now forecasts organic sales growth of 5% to 6% in fiscal 2021, up from its prior expectation of no more than 5%.It also raised its adjusted earnings forecast to 8% to 10%, up from the previous outlook of 5% to 8%.

P&G expects to buy back as much as $10 billion of its own stock during fiscal 2021, up from a prior estimate of $7 billion to $9 billion.

Shares of General Motors  climbed Tuesday, after software behemoth Microsoft  partnered with the car company's self-driving car startup Cruise .

Microsoft and GM are leading a $2 billion investment round in Cruise.The two companies aim to combine their software and hardware engineering capabilities , cloud-computing technologies and manufacturing knowledge in the self-driving-vehicle market. 

The additional funds will raise Cruise’s valuation to an estimated $30 billion, up from $19 billion when T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. invested in the company in 2019, Cruise said in a statement Monday.

"Our mission to bring safer, better and more affordable transportation to everyone isn't just a tech race – it's also a trust race," Cruise Chief Executive Dan Ammann said in a statement.

Virgin Galactic   shares rose on Tuesday, even after news of Abu Dhabi's sovereign-wealth fund reducing its holding in the space-tourism company and Susquehanna analysts downgrading the stock.

According to a regulatory filing, Mubadala Investment, Abu Dhabi's sovereign-wealth fund,  pared its stake in the company to 11.8 million shares ( 5.04%), from 14.9 million shares (7.08%).  But Mubadala remains Virgin's third largest shareholder, according to S&P Capital.

Virgin Galactic’s shares was downgraded to neutral from positive by Susquehanna analysts.Their price target on the shares $32 a share, indicating potential 5.2% downside from the shares' Friday closing price. 

Virgin announced in December that shareholders may sell up to nearly 113 million shares following the end of a lockup period. 

Shares of laser maker Coherent  jumped  on Tuesday, after Lumentum Holdings   agreed to acquire the company in a deal valued at $5.7 billion.

In a cash-and-stock deal, Coherent shareholders would  receive $100 per share in cash and 1.1851 shares of Lumentum common stock for each Coherent share they own, according to the the companies’ statement.The transaction deal implies a 49% premium to Coherent's closing price on Friday.

Oil companies, especially exploration companies, have rallied sharply since the end of October.The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP) rallied 89.7% from the October low to last week’s high.

The analysts at  Bernstein are sanguine that revenue from Zoom Phone will contribute substantial returns in a shorter period than many investors expect.The firm expects that Zoom Phone could surpass 8 million paid users by the end of calendar year 2022, and 13 million by the end of 2023. 

Zoom Phone would have a market value of $80 billion by 2023, considering a multiple of 20 times price to sales – according to Bernstein.

Bernstein analyst Zane Chrane said that with all Zoom Phone users on paid plans (i.e., no free tier like with videoconferencing), related revenue could grow much more rapidly relative to the user count than has been the case with Zoom VC.

The analysts said that their upgrade is based on current macroeconomic conditions supportive of “elevated valuations for high growth stocks”.They also mentioned further upside potential for Snap due to e-commerce and small- and medium-sized business marketer tailwinds driving the broader online advertising sector.

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.

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.

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.

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.