U.S. equities continue to push higher this week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average flirting with the 29,000 level as the Q4 earnings season prepares to get underway.
A number of mega-cap bank stocks are set to kick things off starting on Tuesday, providing a critical view into the health of the economy, the state of the consumer, and whether the rally the market enjoyed in 2019 can continue.
Here are six names to watch:
Citigroup (C)
Citigroup (NYSE:C) will report Tuesday morning, with analysts looking for earnings of $1.83 per share vs. the $1.64 reported in the prior year period. Analysts at DA Davidson recently initiated coverage on the stock with a “buy” rating and a $96 price target — a move that would be worth a rise of 20% from here.
Technically, shares have been enjoying an accelerating uptrend with a touch of the 200-day average back in October, the 50-day average in early December, and the 20-day average right now.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM)
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) will also report Tuesday morning, with analysts looking for earnings of $2.36 per share vs. the $1.98 reported last year. Management guided results to be within the range of the Street’s consensus estimates with revenue growth expected to clock in at nearly 8% on a year-over-year basis.
DA Davidson analysts also initiated coverage on this stock recently, assigning a $140 price target.
Bank of America (BAC)
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) will report on Wednesday morning, with analysts looking for earnings of 69 cents per share vs. the 70 cents reported in the prior year. Shares recently climbed up and over its two-year trading range with a push above prior highs near $32 set in early 2018.
Shares have faced some headwinds recently, with UBS analysts downgrading the stock earlier this month and DA Davidson initiating coverage with a neutral rating.
Goldman Sachs (GS)
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) will also report results on Tuesday morning, with analysts looking for earnings of $5.52 per share, down from the $6.04 reported in the prior year. Shares have been going vertical lately, breaking free of multi-month resistance near the $220 level. This returns prices to levels last seen in early 2018, capping a rise of more than 60% from the lows seen in December 2018.
Analysts at JMP Securities recently upgraded their rating to “buy” with a $290 price target — a move that would be worth a gain of nearly 20% from here.
Wells Fargo (WFC)
Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) shares are rolling over badly, down 1.1% as I write this to fall out of a three-month consolidation range ahead of reporting earnings on Tuesday morning. Analysts are looking for earnings of $1.11 per share on revenues of $20.1 billion.
Shares were recently downgraded by analysts at Barclays. Last quarter featured a big earnings miss driven by a 0.3% decline in revenues on a year-over-year basis as the bank has struggled in the low interest rate environment.
Morgan Stanley (MS)
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) shares are rising up and out of a three-month consolidation range as management prepares to report results on Thursday morning. Analysts are looking for earnings of $1.04 per share on revenues of $9.7 billion.
Analysts at JMP Securities have leaned against the rise, downgrading shares to neutral this week. DA Davidson initiated coverage with a “buy” rating and a $62 price target. Last quarter, the company reported an earnings beat driven by a 10% rise in sales and trading revenue.
