Traders were almost put to sleep on Monday, following a snoozy session on Columbus Day. Tuesday was anything but boring though, with earnings making headlines in the stock market today.
The broader indices rocketed higher, with tech leading the way. The PowerShares QQQ ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ) climbed 1.27%, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) rallied 0.99% and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) finished higher by 88 basis points.
We’re finally to the third-quarter earnings season and investors are saying “bring it on.” The banks kicked off the action, while a few staple stocks also issued their quarterly results.
Earnings Time, Baby
JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) led the way, beating on earnings and revenue expectations. What else is new from this best-in-breed name that just keeps on delivering? CEO Jamie Dimon has JPM stock up to a record high with a price-to-earnings ratio of 12. Bravo.
Other bank stocks didn’t do quite as well, although the stocks didn’t behave too poorly.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) missed on both earnings and revenue expectations, with the latter slipping 5.7% year-over-year. However, shares held up pretty well, finishing the day higher by 0.3%.
Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) also reported earnings as the company turned into a mixed report card. The company missed on earnings, but revenue of $22 billion grew 30 basis points year-over-year and topped estimates by almost $700 million. New CEO Charlie Scharf may be able to pump some momentum back into the business after all — and don’t forget, WFC still yields about 4%.
Perhaps one of the bigger surprises was the pedestrian rally in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), up just 1.6% on the day. Despite a bevy of legal issues, J&J beat on earnings and revenue expectations, while also bumping its full-year outlook for sales and revenue. Bernstein analysts just made a case that J&J is too cheap to ignore and after a beat-and-raise quarter, they may have a point.
Unlike JNJ, investors aren’t hesitating to take UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) higher. Shares ripped higher by more than 8.2% as earnings and revenue topped expectations. Like JNJ, UnitedHealth gave a boost to its full year outlook.
Movers in the Stock Market Today
Not all stocks on the move were reporting earnings.
Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) shares exploded higher by 11.5% on the day. Shares have quickly found themselves higher by more than 30% from the recent lows. Tuesday’s move came on news that Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) Apple TV+ platform will be available on Roku’s devices.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares burst higher by 5.3% on the day, hitting new 2019 highs in the process. The move comes after semiconductor stocks have been tiptoeing higher and as Bank of America Merrill Lynch assigned a new Street-high target for NVDA. They now expect the stock to rally to $250, up from $225, as they are bullish on the company’s growth profile.
The charts for Nvidia, Roku and JPMorgan were all highlighted in Tuesday’s Top Stock Trades column.
After a tough start in the public markets, Peloton (NASDAQ:PTON) found its stride. Or at least, it did for one day, rallying 9.2%. The move comes after PTON was crushed in the prior session, nearly hitting new 52-week lows. Let’s see if it can continue to gain momentum or if the rally is just a flash in the pan.
General Motors (NYSE:GM) climbed more than 2%, as the automaker has reportedly come to terms with the UAW on temp workers. While not a full-blown deal, it does suggest the two are on the way to resolving the current strike. The deal will give temp workers the opportunity to become full-time workers after three consecutive years of service.
Grubhub (NYSE:GRUB) rallied 3.1%, while Uber (NYSE:GRUB) climbed 2.8%. The moves came after Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) CEO told Yahoo! it wants to add both delivery services to its store before the end of the year. The company currently has a deal with DoorDash, but is looking to expand.
Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell is long ROKU and AAPL.
