Investment
U
submits:
by Matthew Weinshenck
Forget the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. While they foretold
the end of days, there are five new riders in town, with a new
prophecy:
There will be no double-dip recession. The market will rally.
The economy will recover.
Five Windows into the Economic World
Quarterly earnings season started a bit over a week ago - on
October 7. During the first week of reports, five very important
companies released their numbers:
Alcoa, Inc
(NYSE: [[AA]]),
Pepsico, Inc
(NYSE: [[PEP]]),
CSX, Inc.
(NYSE: [[CSX]]),
Intel Corp.
(Nasdaq: [[INTC]]), and
JP Morgan Chase
(NYSE: [[JPM]]).
I didn't choose these five companies arbitrarily. They're not
only among the first to step up to the earnings plate and set the
tone for the season, more importantly, each company tells us
something different about the economy…
-
Alcoa:
Its aluminum business provides clues on the amount of industrial
spending.
-
Pepsico:
As the company behind many everyday food and drink items, the
company reflects consumer-spending levels.
-
CSX:
The railway freight shipper is a good barometer of general
economic activity.
-
Intel:
The tech giant reflects spending on technology.
-
JP Morgan Chase:
As a major financial firm, it highlights the health of the
financial sector.
Together, these companies have a wide geographic reach, a good
mix of international sales and enough different products to provide
a decent measure of economic health. They also have an interesting
short-term impact on the stock market.
So specifically, what do these companies predict?
Why You Should Pay Attention to These Five Earnings
Reports
First, all five companies just met or exceeded expected earnings
- a significant occurrence in itself. That's because when I
reviewed the past 20 quarterly earnings for each company, here's
what I found:
When four or more of these companies meet or exceed their
earnings expectations, the market rises by 2.2% over the next 30
days. But when only three or less companies post good numbers,
the market turns negative.
| Number of "Horsemen" That Met or Beat
Earnings |
S&P 500 Return over 30 Days |
S&P 500 Return over 60 Days |
| 4 or 5 |
2.20% |
2.19% |
| 3 or less |
-3.90% |
-4.11% |
Of course, the
earnings reports
of these five firms alone can't drive the entire market over the
longer-term. A sample of this size isn't enough to make a categoric
judgment.
However, these "horsemen" are influential firms and are
important economic barometers. Together, they produce valuable
information. And information is what moves the market.
As Frank Holmes of US Global Investors says:
"Good partial information early is value-added investment
research, while complete information after the fact is low-value
reporting that's already priced into the market."
And that's essentially what happens all the time when you
invest. It's impossible to have all the information and facts you
need, so you make decisions based on what you do have - with
partial information in uncertain conditions.
And it works, too…
You Don't NeedAll the Information… You Just Need theRight
Information
We've used partial information before. In fact, I used one
particular indicator to
predict the end of the recession
in May 2009.
Result? In September 2010, the National Bureau of Economic
Research declared the official end to be June 2009. Pretty darn
close.
And just a few months ago, I used partial information to predict
five reasons why the S&P 500 will hit 1,350
. The index hasn't got there yet, but it's on the move, having
risen 10% since then.
The point is, the earnings reports from Alcoa, Pepsico, CSX,
Intel and JP Morgan provide information that we can use to draw a
pretty decent picture of the economy.
For example, we might not know exactly what decisions Chinese
builders are making, but Alcoa's numbers can give us some
clues.
So aside from the headline earnings numbers, here's what these
five companies are telling us is happening now - and what could
happen next…
Goodbye, Macro… Hello, Micro
-
Alcoa:
Aluminum demand is rising - especially in the aerospace and
construction industries. And demand is rising fast enough to push
prices up by 15%. Much of the growth is coming from China, where
inflationary concerns and available storage capacity may have
builders stockpiling supplies now for the future.
-
Pepsico:
With a 5% increase in sales, Pepsico beat its forecast. However,
earnings only matched the estimated figure, due to the company
hiking its costs in order to expand capacity and infrastructure
in China, as well as setting aside more money for research and
development. When businesses make capital investments, it bodes
well for the economy.
-
CSX:
The firm reported a 10% jump in shipping volume and healthy
business across all its divisions. Earnings were up by an
impressive 48% over last year. In addition, CSX has hired 2,000
workers this year and expects to hire 3,000 next year. Like
Pepsico, it's also raised its planned capital investment for next
year - another good sign for the economy.
-
Intel:
The tech titan beat sales estimates, thanks to increased demand
for computers in less developed countries. This could signal a
broader scale technological expansion for
up-and-coming markets
, which would add a layer to Intel's growth - and the U.S.
economy's, too. Interestingly, much of the boost came in the last
four weeks of the quarter, which suggests the economic revival is
only just now accelerating.
-
JP Morgan Chase:
The good news: JP Morgan beat its earnings forecasts and saw
lower write-offs on consumer credit card debt. However,
investment banking and new mortgage income were both down, so we
perhaps shouldn't get too carried away with the company's
quarterly performance.
What we can say, however, is that while it's tricky to absorb
the mass of information on the overall economy and its prospects,
breaking it down into smaller bites is much more revealing.
And what these five important companies tell us is that we're
shipping 10% more goods around the country… sales are climbing,
both in the United States and abroad… capital expenditure is rising
in key areas like consumer goods and railroads… and credit card
debt write-offs are declining.
Information like this is much more useful than an
all-encompassing quarterly GDP number that reports what the economy
did months ago (not to mention a number that's far from accurate
and is casually revised up and down).
These are real-time details on what's happening around the world
- and the details look good. It's what makes these companies the
"five horsemen." And it's why the economy and stock market could be
destined for a brighter spell.
Disclosure
: Investment U expressly forbids its writers from having a
financial interest in any security they recommend to our
subscribers. All employees and agents of Investment U (and
affiliated companies) must wait 24 hours after an initial trade
recommendation is published on online - or 72 hours after a direct
mail publication is sent - before acting on that
recommendation.
Disclaimer
: The Oxford Club LLC/Investment U and Stansberry & Associates
Investment Research are separate companies, and entirely distinct.
Their only common thread is a shared parent company, Agora Inc.
Agora Inc. was named in the suit by the SEC and was exonerated by
the court, and thus dropped from the case. Stansberry &
Associates was found civilly liable for a matter that dealt with
one writer's report on a company. The action was not a criminal
matter.
See also
Insiders Are Selling: What Does It Mean?
on seekingalpha.com