Lower-than-expected earnings from Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) had the Dow Jones Industrial Average down about 0.5% to around 12,660, a drop that overshadowed progress on debt issues in Greece and the United States. This has been a strong earnings season for the second quarter of 2011, with about 80% of companies reporting better numbers than estimated by the analysis community.
While profits and revenues jumped for Caterpillar, its earnings were below those expected, taking shares lower by more than $7, a drop of more than 6.4%, to under $104.50. A recent report projected Caterpillar as a $135 stock, having it up for the week by more than 4.15% and over 10.5% higher for the month.
Verizon (NYSE:VZ) was down more than 2.5% to less than $36.65, shedding about 95 cents in early morning action despite posting solid earnings today. AT&T (NYSE:T) still is selling more iPhones than Verizon. For the month, Verizon is up more than 5%.
3M Company (NYSE:MMM) was down to about $95.50, around a 0.35% drop of more than 30 cents on dilution concerns. 3M just announced it has entered into an agreement to buy GPI Group, a French-based builder. Terms of the transaction were not released. 3M is trading above its 20-, 50- and 200-day moving averages.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) was up about 2.8% to around $88.95, picking up more than $2.40 in morning trading as it reported higher profits of 19.1%. McDonald’s is trading more than 19% higher than its 200-day moving average. With a relative strength index rating of 79.99, McDonald’s is well above the 70 standard for a stock to be considered overbought.
Rebounding strongly, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) bounced higher by more than 0.9% to over $23, a gain of better than 20 cents per share. A report this morning featured Intel’s strength in cloud computing. Intel is up more than 5.3% for the month and has a relative strength index rating of 58.91.
From its strong numbers from earlier this week, Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) was up more than 0.36% to over $69.60, higher by about 26 cents per share. The combination of McDonald’s posting higher profits today with sales of Pepsi cola falling by 1% in North America now has Coca-Cola trading above its 20-, 50- and 200-day moving averages, with a relative strength index rating of 64.79.
Jonathan Yates does not own any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
