Tuesday was an overall up day for U.S. equities, led by financials, which continued their rally via a 0.8% uptick. The S&P 500 Index rose 0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average set still new records with an 0.3% gain, and the Nasdaq Composite wafted 0.2% higher. Gold also was stronger Tuesday, finishing 0.5% higher.
The major indices will likely have another up day Wednesday, what with heavy component Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rocketing higher this morning on its latest earnings report. Meanwhile, FireEye Inc (NASDAQ:FEYE) is off to a rousing start, while AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) is cratering in what should be one of the worst performances of the day thanks to an early preview of its second-quarter results.
Here’s what you should keep an eye on today.
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
AAPL stock is charging into all-time high territory this morning on the strength of its fiscal third-quarter results.
The iPhone maker unveiled earnings of $8.7 billion, or $1.67 per share — up nearly 18% year-over-year on a per-share basis, and a dime better than the analyst consensus for $1.57 per share. Meanwhile, the top line expanded to $45.4 billion, a 7% year-over-year increase. Wall Street was expecting sales of $44.9 billion for its third quarter, so Apple scored a beat on that front, too.
Buoying the top line were iPhone sales that grew 1.6% higher year-over-year to 41.03 million. Despite concerns that holdouts for the upcoming 10th anniversary iPhone would mute Q3 sales, Apple logged a beat on this front, too, topping estimates for 40.7 million units. AAPL sold 40.4 million iPhones in the year-ago period.
Also taking a little spotlight was yet another strong performance out of the Services division, which includes the App Store, Apple Pay and iCloud. Revenues here grew 21.6%.
Apple did disappoint in China, however, with revenue in the region declining 9.5% to $8 billion.
Still, AAPL was easily able to counteract this with Street-pleasing guidance. Apple is forecasting revenues between $49 billion and $52 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter, while analysts were looking for $49.21 billion at the midpoint.
AAPL stock is set to jump 6% at Wednesday’s open, which would put shares atop previous highs above $156.
FireEye Inc (FEYE)
FEYE stock is booming this morning amid the cybersecurity company’s second-quarter earnings report.
The software provider lost $70.7 million on the period, or 40 cents per share. On an adjusted basis, however, FireEye’s loss of just 4 cents per share was far better than the 33 cents it lost in the year-ago period. It also was just a third of the 12-cent loss that Wall Street’s analysts were projecting.
Revenues were 6% higher at $185.5 million, which was more than enough to beat expectations for $176.4 million.
Chief Financial Officer Frank Verdacanna said that FireEye’s new security software Helix was a success over the period.
For the full year, FireEye expects revenues to come in at a range of $734 million-$746 million — considerably higher than its previous guidance of $724 million-$736 million.
FEYE shares are on pace to jump more than 6% at Wednesday’s open.
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (AMC)
AMC shares are plunging this morning after the company dropped a bundle of bad news as part of an early preview of next week’s quarterly results, due out Monday, Aug. 7.
AMC is now projecting a loss of $1.34 to $1.36 per share, versus Wall Street expectations of just a penny’s worth of red ink. The company will also miss on revenues, though not as dramatically, with a sales range of $1.2 billion to $1.204 billion coming in shy of estimates for $1.249 billion. Still, that marks quite the flip from last year’s 24-cent profit on just $764 million in revenue.
The theater operator was weighed down by a 4.4% decline in U.S. box office.
That will greatly impact full-year results. AMC now sees a loss of 97 cents to $1.17, whereas Wall Street was projecting a 60-cent profit. Meanwhile, AMC’s revenue range of $5.1 billion to $5.23 billion entirely falls short of estimates for $5.27 billion.
In response, AMC Entertainment will trim staff and execute other cost cuts. Still, that won’t be enough to stave off a mass exodus in AMC stock today. Shares are pacing a 25% dive in Wednesday’s premarket trade.
