Why Apple, Boeing and U.S. Steel Are 3 of Today’s Best Stocks

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If investors had an apple a day, maybe we could keep the bears away.

So would go the thinking on Wall Street on Wednesday, after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) recorded record profits and crushed analysts’ expectations for the fourth quarter. Joining AAPL in making the Wall Street analysts look silly were other big-name stocks, such as Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) and United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X).

Apple stock earnings aapl stock

The Fed Open Markets Committee decided to remain “patient in beginning to normalize the stance of monetary policy,” despite their view that the U.S. economy is strengthening. The biggest change was in dropping the term “considerable time” to describe when they might tighten the rates.

That omission seemed to shorten the time frame before the first increase, and rattled the markets in the final hour, as oil prices again tanked. By the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 1.11%, while the S&P 500 fell 1.34%, and the Nasdaq gave back 0.93%.

At day’s end every major sector was in the red. But while the sectors in general were lower, solid earnings reports among individual issues Apple Inc. (AAPL), Boeing Co (BA), and United States Steel Corporation (X), make them 3 of Today’s Best Stocks

Apple Inc. (AAPL)

AAPL stock surged almost 6% higher today on 146 million shares, after beating analysts’ estimates for the quarter ending December 31. AAPL sold 74.5 million iPhones, while Wall Street was looking for 70 million. AAPL reported earnings of $3.06 per share, besting the street view of $2.60. Revenue rose from $57.6 billion a year ago, to $74.6 billion, above the Wall Street number of $67.39 billion.

CEO Tim Cook called the demand for the iPhone “staggering”. A larger screen was said to have boosted sales of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Boeing Co (BA)

APPL wasn’t the only big name stock crushing the analysts’ forecasts today. BA shot up more than 5% by reporting fourth-quarter fiscal 2014 earnings of $2.02 per share on $24.5 billion revenue, while the street was looking for earnings of $1.61 per share of BA stock.

BA stock has had a good run, up about 16% over the past six weeks. InvestorPlace contributor John Persinos says that the company’s reinvention as a high-tech aircraft manufacturer means that BA is poised for growth in 2015 and beyond.

United States Steel Corporation (X)

Completing the earnings triple header today was U.S. Steel, which reported fourth-quarter fiscal year 2014 EPS of $1.82, on $4.1 billion revenue, easily trumping the analysts’ estimate of 84 cents and $3.9 billion. Net income of 69 cents per share put an end to five consecutive years of losses.

U.S. Steel has recently been trying to become a more efficient company, and it seems to finally be paying off. Despite rising almost 11% today on huge volume of 32.6 million shares, X stock is still down 50% since September. But perhaps better times are now ahead for U.S. Steel.

As of this writing, Ethan Roberts did not hold any positions in the aforementioned securities.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2015/01/apple-boeing-u-s-steel-3-todays-best-stocks/.

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