So much for continued momentum on Tuesday. The S&P 500 Index fell 0.3% yesterday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1%.
Earnings season is in full swing now, and quarterly reports are dominating the headlines at the moment. As we swing into Wednesday’s trade, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) are taking the spotlight.
Here’s what you need to know heading into today’s trading day.
Morgan Stanley (MS)
Morgan Stanley will not go the route of Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) today, scoring a sizable first-quarter beat that has MS shares up solidly in Wednesday’s early trade.
The Wall Street investment firm earned $100 per share in Q1, which was 12 cents better than analyst expectations. Revenues of $9.7 billion also easily beat the consensus mark for $9.27 billion.
Morgan Stanley enjoyed a big jump in wealth management revenues, which climbed more than 10% to $4.06 billion. Institutional securities did even better, up 39% to $5.15 billion — led by a 41% leap in investment banking revs — while investment management shot up 28% to $609. Overall, revenues were roughly 25% higher for the year.
Morgan’s common equity Tier 1 and Tier 1 risk-based capital ratios sit at 17.4% and 19.9%, respectively.
If Wednesday’s premarket action holds up, MS should be able to climb close to breakeven for 2017. The stock has been mired in a double-digit decline since early March.
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (ISRG)
ISRG stock is also enjoying a nice pop after its latest quarterly results.
The maker of da Vinci Surgical Systems earned $179.8 million ($4.67 per share) for the first quarter of fiscal 2017. That was a big bump higher from its year-ago figure of $3.54 per share. And on an adjusted basis, profits of $5.09 per share beat Wall Street projections for $4.97.
Revenues of $674.2 million were 13% higher year-over-year and also beat expectations for $666 million.
The company shipped 133 of its da Vinci robot surgery systems, which is better than the 110 shipped last year during the same period.
The company also enjoyed a bit of good news prior to the report, as Barclays hiked its price target on ISRG shares from $800 to $830 (~9% upside) after a survey of U.S. OB/GYNs showed that the industry’s professionals believe robotic surgeries in their field will continue to grow. Barclays already had an “overweight” rating on shares.
ISRG stock is set to open 4% higher this morning.
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO)
YHOO, which is still waiting for Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) to finally acquire its core internet business, reported its first-quarter earnings last night.
What should be Yahoo’s final quarterly report under its current structure was at least a good one.
The company brought in 18 cents per share for its first quarter, beating estimates of 14 cents. Revenues of $1.33 billion — up 22% year-over-year — also stepped over the consensus mark of $1.23 billion. That figure was propped up by a nearly 36% improvement in its Mavens division, which controls mobile, social and other advertising.
“With the transaction anticipated to complete in June, I’ve never been more proud of the improvements we’ve made to the business and the value we’ve delivered to our shareholders,” Mayer added.
Verizon originally bid $4.83 billion for YHOO, but lowered the buying price to $4.48 billion in February in the wake of revelations of a couple cybersecurity breaches from the past few years.
YHOO shares are creeping fractionally higher in Tuesday’s premarket trading.
