On the back of some impressive earnings out of the technology sector, the S&P 500‘s largest sector weight, stocks rallied with the Nasdaq Composite leading the way with a gain of 1.06%. The S&P 500 added 0.43% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.19%, extending its winning streak to nine days.
Oil closed modestly higher while gold fell as investors sought riskier assets.
Boosted by some bullish earnings reports, Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE:TUP) were three of Wednesday’s star performers.
Cintas Corporation (CTAS)
Uniform rental company Cintas Corporation surged 9.7% on volume that was about five times the daily average after posting fiscal fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates. For its fiscal fourth quarter, CTAS said it earned $1.08 a share on an adjusted basis, beating analysts’ estimate of $1.02 per share.
CTAS reported revenue of $1.27 billion, also beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. CTAS forecast full-year EPS of $4.35 to $4.45 per share on revenue of $5.15 billion to $5.23 billion.
With Wednesday’s gain, shares of Ohio-based CTAS are up 17.4% year-to-date.
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)
Microsoft Corporation, the world’s largest software maker, advanced 5.3% after the member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average said its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue topped Wall Street estimates. MSFT posted fourth-quarter EPS of 69 cents on revenue of $22.6 billion. Analysts expected MSFT to earn 58 cents per share on sales of $22.1 billion.
Increased revenue at MSFT’s cloud computing division boosted the results. MSFT’s annualized cloud revenue during its fiscal fourth quarter was $12.1 billion. Revenue in the MSFT Intelligent Cloud division was $6.71 billion, ahead of the $6.58 billion forecast by analysts, according to Bloomberg.
MSFT’s Personal Computing unit posted declining of sales of 3.7% to $8.9 billion, but that still slightly beat estimates. MSFT’s Personal Computing division includes Windows and Xbox.
Tupperware Brands Corporation (TUP)
Tupperware Brands Corporation, the maker of the eponymous plastic storage containers, jumped 7.7% on more than quadruple the average daily volume on better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. On an adjusted basis, TUP earned $1.16 per share in the second quarter, outpacing the $1.11 analysts expected.
TUP posted revenue of $564.7 million during the quarter, which beat Wall Street estimates of $562.9 million.
Florida-based TUP forecast EPS of 77 cents to 82 cents for the current quarter. For the full year, TUP expects to earn $4.25 to $4.35 per share.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned securities.
