Friday, January 18, 2013
This is Mark Vickery, substituting for Sheraz Mian while he
does an early interview this morning.
Perhaps we're still a bit early in announcing this -- then again,
our senior staff's earlier prediction seems to be bearing out --
but 4th quarter earnings season looks like a big improvement over
the 3rd quarter. Earnings reports from Morgan
Stanley ( MS
) and General Electric ( GE ) both beat estimates
this morning, following a positive surprise from
Intel ( INTC ) yesterday
afternoon.
And while there still are plenty of issues to be wary of here in
early 2013 -- tax increases and spending cuts, both of which are
expected to curb economic growth -- generally speaking, things are
looking up. Traction in the housing market continues, retail and
auto sales are showing improvement, and overall bank earnings thus
far have further advanced the narrative that our harshest economic
ordeals are definitely in the rear view.
Only around a quarter of companies have yet reported, but we're
seeing roughly three positive surprises for each negative one. This
is actually historically typical, as companies have by now mastered
the art of under-promising and over-delivering earnings and
revenues. And if not for major downward guidance during the course
of Q4, we certainly would not be celebrating success the way we are
able to do this morning.
We may, in fact, be in a similar pattern to the last couple years:
hopeful, positive sentiment in the early months which gives way to
grimmer realities in the back-half. Perhaps we'll break out of this
pattern and see growth accelerate once economic policies are
decided and we can better navigate the playing field, but this
remains to be seen.
The markets will be closed for the Martin Luther King holiday on
Monday, but we here at Zacks will still be open to offer our
subscribers new methods, opportunities and recommendations to
improve their portfolios. And while plenty of big-name companies
have already put forth quarterly earnings numbers, next week we
really get hit with both barrels, including reports from
Apple ( AAPL ) and
Google ( GOOG ). Stay
tuned!
Mark Vickery
Senior Editor
APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis ReportGENL ELECTRIC (GE): Free Stock Analysis ReportGOOGLE INC-CL A (GOOG): Free Stock Analysis
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