PepsiCo released its latest quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts’ expectations, on the back of advertising and marketing impact. The beverage giant’s adjusted earnings for the fiscal third-quarter came in at $1.56 per share, exceeding the $1.50 expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv. Revenue of $17.19 billion also beat analysts’ estimate of $16.93 billion. Pepsi’s organic revenue grew by +4.3% in the quarter. The company’s increased advertising has been cited as a major drive behind consumers purchase of Pepsi products, as indicated by CFO Hugh Johnston in a CNBC interview. Pepsi’s North American beverage business grew +3.5%. Frito Lay North America, which includes brands like Cheetos and Doritos, experienced revenue growth of +5.5% for the quarter. What’s more, Pepsi’s apparent drive to cater to an increasingly health-conscious population seems to be paying off.Meanwhile, Bubly continues to gain market share in the flavored sparkling-water category against

Oil producer Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) is hitting several different support points on its chart and it got a bullish signal from the Tickeron Trend Prediction Engine on September 30.Now the stock is down at the lower band and actually dipped slightly below it on September 30. Yet another possible positive sign for the stock is the fact that the daily stochastic readings are in oversold territory and made a bullish crossover on October 1.

You might not be familiar with the name Restaurant Brands International (NYSE: QSR), but you probably know the names of the restaurants it operates.Restaurant Brands operates over 4,800 Tim Hortons, 17,800 Burger Kings, and 3,100 Popeyes in approximately 100 countries around the world. The company got my attention for a couple of reasons recently and both of them point to a possible rally in the stock.

The payroll & human resources company generated adjusted earnings of  65 cents per share, surpassing analysts’ expectation of 63 cents per share (as polled by Refinitiv).For fiscal 2019, the company projects its adjusted earnings per share to increase in the range of 11-12% - an upward revision from its initial guidance of a 7- 8% increase. Paychex’s revenue climbed +7% year-over-year to touch $858.9 million in the second quarter.

On Wednesday, Lennar Corp. reported  third-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts' expectations. The home construction company’s earnings for the quarter came in at $1.59 a share, exceeding analysts’ estimate of $1.32 a share. Orders for new homes rose +7% to 14,469. Lennar indicated that it benefited from demand for new homes among consumers amidst lower mortgage rates, which in turn is a boost to homebuilding cash flow.

Activision Blizzard shares were falling on Wednesday, following a rating downgrade from Bernstein. Analysts at Bernstein downgraded the video game company to underperform from market perform.According to these analysts, investors are "paying too much for hope" surrounding recently released mobile versions of Activision’s shooting games. Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger indicated that he/his team cannot match the current stock price with the company's risk-adjusted fundamentals. Jeunger pointed towards sales forecasts on recently released mobile versions of Activision Blizzard's "Call of Duty" and "World of Warcraft Classic" games, and said that the company is too reliant on shooting games that in his opinion do not carry enough "franchise sustainability" over the longer term. The analyst is more optimistic on sports games. However, Juenger did increase his one-year price target on the stock to $43 from $41 (which is still the lowest among Wall Stree

Monster Beverage shares were declining Wednesday, following a rating downgrade from Guggenheim Securities.  Analysts at Guggenheim Securities downgraded the beverage company’s stock to neutral from buy, citing competition from the upcoming Coca-Cola Energy.The new target indicates a potential 6.3% upside from the stock's Tuesday closing price.  The analysts indicated that their concerns included Monster’s in-store execution, especially in convenience, where shelf space is more constrained.  

United Natural Foods reported earnings that fell short of analyst’ estimates.The company also issued a lighter-than-expected guidance on sales. For the fourth quarter ended Aug. 3, the distributor of natural and organic foods reported adjusted earnings of 44 cents per share, missing the Wall Street estimate of 47 cents (based on FactSet survey of analysts). Net sales of $6.41 billion were in line with analysts' expectations. Looking ahead, the company expects sales to sit between $23.5 billion and $24.3 billion – a range lower than analysts’ forecast of $24.4 billion. United Natural Foods’ earnings-per-share projection ranges between $1.22 and $1.76 for the full-year, compared to analysts’ expectation of $1.32.

Shares of Ulta Beauty climbed Tuesday, after a board member increased stake in the cosmetics company. Ulta's stock price jumped +5.5%,  on news  of company board member Charles Heilbronn buying nearly a quarter million shares, thereby  upping the stake in the company to 2 million shares (as reported by Bloomberg).In a series of  transactions from Sept. 26-30, Heilbronn bought Ulta shares worth $87 million (243,849 shares)  through Mousseluxe SARL, which oversees the fortune of Chanel owners Alain and Gerard Wertheimer.

Shares of Stitch Fix slumped by as much as -12%after-hours, following the company’s latest quarterly earnings release.Although the company's quarterly results surpassed estimates, its softer forecast on future quarter hurt the stock price. The online personal styling service’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings came in at 7 cents per share, beating analysts’ expectations of 4 cents a share. Revenue surged +36% year-over-year to $432.1 million, which is slightly higher than the $432 million expected. Stitch Fix’s active client base grew +18% year over year, to 3.2 million people - about in-line with the 3.23 million analysts were expecting (based on FactSet poll). However, what probably led to its shares declining was its indication of a “softer” outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2020.

Vivint Solar refuted a research note that claimed that the solar-power company has been concealing lawsuits. "This is a deeply misleading report from a self-interested short seller that we vigorously dispute," Vivint told TheStreet in a statement Monday, after Marcus Aurelius Value sent the stock dropping Friday with a research note titled "VSLR: Fiddler on the Roof." The Marcus Aurelius Value report indicated that Vivint appears to have largely concealed a growing pattern of undisclosed lawsuits, thereby alleging that the company has been involved  in a nationwide fraud involving forged customer contracts.The report led to Vivint shares plunging by as much as -12% Friday; shares recovered a bit and ended the day down -2%.

Oil exploration and production company ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) has been trending lower for the last year and a rally over the last two months may have investors feeling optimistic.However, there are a number of indicators that may prevent the rally from continuing and those indicators come from all angles—fundamental, sentiment, and technical analysis. Let’s look at the technical side first.

Emerson Electric shares climbed on  Monday, after a rating upgrade from RBC analyst. Emerson is an industrial giant, which manufacturers  products ranging from industrial valves to light and climate control systems.RBC raised its rating on the company's shares to buy from hold, on an expectations that the company would go for a profitable breakup, based on published reports. RBC also boosted its price target to $77 a share from $65, as it considered a possible breakup scenario involving EMR's automation solutions unit and its commercial and residential solutions business.  

Newell Brands shares climbed Monday, following a hike in rating and increase in price target from SunTrust. Analysts at SunTrust raised the their rating on the consumer & commercial products maker’s stock to buy from hold.They also increased their price target on the shares to $25 from $15 a share – thereby representing a potential 36% upside from the stock's closing price Friday of $18.31.  Analyst Bill Chappell believes that the worst in business trends is has bottomed out, and that turnaround efforts are gaining traction for the company.

Tesla might be currently “a few thousand” cars short of its delivery goals. According to a report by Electrek, the electric car maker emailed to its employees last week that it has a chance at delivering a record 100,000 cars this quarter. But citing sources familiar with the matter, Electrek’s latest report suggests that  Tesla management communicated to employees last night that they were “a few thousands” short of the goal with a day left in the quarter.Reaching their target could potentially be extremely challenging, as hinted by the report. Sources told Electrek that Tesla has about 3,000 vehicles in inventory throughout North America, but not all of them are at the delivery centers ready to be matched with a customer ready to take delivery.

Vail Resorts reported fiscal 2019 fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that surpassed analysts’ expectations. The ski-resort operator reported a loss of -$2.22 a share for the quarter, narrower than the Street's estimate of a -$2.53 loss. The company’s revenue of $244 million also came in higher than analysts' $240.1 million forecast. Looking ahead, Vail predicts that its fiscal full-year 2020 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization would range between $778 million and $818 million. CEO Rob Katz emphasized that there had been strong growth in visitation and spending compared to the prior year.Katz mentioned that Vail’s results throughout fiscal 2019 reflect the growth and stability resulting from its season pass, tailwinds from its geographic diversification, and the success of its data-driven marketing efforts.

Just a day after reports surfaced of U.S. administrators considering delisting some Chinese firms from U.S. stock exchanges, a U.S. Treasury official said that there are no such plans currently. Citing  people familiar with and the matter, a Bloomberg report indicated on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is pondering ways to limit U.S. investors’ portfolio flows to China, including delisting of Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges, putting a lid on Americans’ government pension funds exposure to China, and capping the Chinese companies included in stock indexes managed by U.S. firms. Responding to the same, Treasury spokeswoman Monica Crowley said that the administration is not  planning on blocking Chinese companies from listing shares on U.S. stock exchanges at this time. According to Bloomberg’s Friday report (citing people familiar with the matter), administration officials for weeks have been considering their options, and Treasury has be

Wholesale membership retailer Costco (Nasdaq: COST) is scheduled to report fiscal fourth quarter and year-end earnings on October 3.From a fundamental perspective, the company has some indicators that are sub-par and could hurt the stock going forward. Let’s look at the chart first.

Masco Corp (NYSE: MAS) manufactures and distributes home improvement and building products.The company’s plumbing product line includes Delta Faucets, Peerless, Hot Spring, and Elan as well as others.

Shares of Progress Software shares declined Friday, after the company reported revenue that fell short of estimates. The business applications maker’s third-quarter adjusted earnings came in at 75 cents, higher than  the year-ago quarter's 55 cents. Non-GAAP revenue for the quarter increased +25% to $115.5 million, which is lower than the Street estimate of $111 million. For the fourth quarter, Progress Software has predicted non-GAAP earnings of 73 cents to 75 cents a share on revenue of $116 million to $119 million a share.Analysts had forecasted revenue of $123.2 million. For the full year, Progress Software is expecting non-GAAP earnings to range between $2.63 and $2.65 a share, and revenue to come in between $425 million and $428 million. Chief financial officer Paul Jalbert mentioned that the company expects its $225 million acquisition of Ipswich (completed in May) to bring in substantially all of the $15 million of cost synergies by the end of 2019 - which would be we