For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL - April 27, 2012 - Zacks.com announces the list of
stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity
Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting
stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the
blog include
Apple
(
AAPL
),
Amazon
(
AMZN
),
Apple
(
AAPL
),
Exxon
(
XOM
) and
United Parcel Service
(
UPS
).
Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the
free Profit from the Pros newsletter:
http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513
Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst
Blog:
Amazon Beats Big on Top & Bottom
For the second time this week, one of the world's biggest and
most well known companies blew past quarterly expectations at a
time when many were doubtful. On Tuesday it was
Apple
(
AAPL
), and today it was
Amazon
(
AMZN
), the world's largest online retailer.
AMZN announced earnings per share of 28 cents for the first
quarter, compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate at 7 cents. That
accounts for a surprise of 300%!. Some analysts were expecting a
loss in the quarter.
As anticipated, the result was far below the year-ago result of
44 cents. AMZN has proved that it isn't afraid to take short-term
hits in order for long-term gains. The company's operating expenses
have been moving higher as it expands into new markets.
Specifically, the company has been increasing its fulfillment
centers in Europe, China and the U.S. Such things have taken a toll
on year-over-year earnings.
However, most of the market was more concerned with sales
anyway, and AMZN didn't disappoint. Net sales jumped 34% to $13.18
billion, compared to $9.86 billion last year. Again, this was well
above the Zacks Consensus Estimate, which was expecting about
$12.88 billion. According to the company, the Kindle Fire remained
"the #1 bestselling, most gifted, and most wished for product
across the millions of items available on Amazon.com since
launch."
Now we'll have to see if this report is enough to enhance the
company Zacks Rank, which is currently a Zacks #3 Rank (Hold). The
only way to do that is through upward earnings estimate revisions.
There hasn't been much movement in that regard of late. Out of 29
total estimates for 2012, there have been three downward revisions
in the past 30 days and none to the upside.
As a result, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for this year has
moved down by a fractional 2 cents in the past month to $1.36 per
share. The outlook for 2013 is down 9 cents in that time to $2.66
per share, which also suggests year-over-year improvement of more
than 95%.
For the second quarter, AMZN forecasts net sales between $11.9
billion and $13.3 billion, or growth between 20% and 34%. It also
expects another stiff year over year loss for profit.
In addition to concerns about its year-over-year profit, there's
also some anxiety over the competition that AMZN faces. The iPad
has already become a competitor to the Kindle, and there are other,
smaller players. And don't forget the competition within online
retail.
For now though, the market can take some solace in the fact that
the consumer came out to support Amazon in the first quarter, which
is good news for the company and the economy.
Jobless Claims Stalled, Earnings Mixed
This morning's earnings reports are not too bad if we realize
that not every company can do what
Apple
(
AAPL
) did the other day. That said, we do have a few uninspiring
reports this morning from bellwether operators like
Exxon
(
XOM
) and
United Parcel Service
(
UPS
) that puts Apple's outperformance in its appropriate context.
While we can't say that this morning's earnings reports are
altogether disappointing, there is no other way of describing
Jobless Claims reading.
The Jobless Claims data fails to satisfy the doubts raised by the
recent run of underwhelming labor market reports, starting with the
surprise March payroll miss. The official report says that Initial
Jobless Claims dropped by 1000 to 388K, but in reality it is a 2000
increase, as the preceding week's tally was revised higher by 3000.
The four-week average, which tends to smooth out the inherent
week-to-week jumpiness of this series, increased by 6.2K to 381.8K
last week.
It is unclear at this stage whether the emerging softness in
labor market over the last few weeks is a reflection of economic
improvement stalling or just due to complications in seasonally
adjusting this data.
Bernanke has his own theory on the recent run of soft labor
readings, which he explained again in his press conference
Wednesday afternoon. He thinks that the pre-March strength may have
been caused by a temporary catch-up in hiring to compensate for the
over-reaction of employers during the downturn.
But irrespective of whether seasonal factors or something more
fundamental is behind the recent run of weak labor market readings,
it is raising doubts about the sustainability of the recovery. We
will get a better read on the labor market in a week from Friday
when we get the April non-farm payroll numbers.
We have a huge day on the earnings front today, with more than 60
companies from the S&P 500 coming out with results.
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APPLE INC (
AAPL
): Free Stock Analysis Report
APPLE INC (
AAPL
): Free Stock Analysis Report
AMAZON.COM INC (
AMZN
): Free Stock Analysis Report
UTD PARCEL SRVC (
UPS
): Free Stock Analysis Report
EXXON MOBIL CRP (
XOM
): Free Stock Analysis Report
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