Ahead of Wall Street - April 17, 2012 - Ahead of Wall Street
April 17 2012 - 5:04AM
Zacks
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Favorable earnings reports on the home front and a not-so-bad
bond auction in Spain provide the backdrop for today’s trading
action. This morning’s housing report is a bit on the mixed side,
but the strength on the Permits side likely trumps the Starts
weakness, in my view.
After showing promising momentum in the winter months, housing
reports have been less than inspiring lately. Today’s mixed Housing
Starts reading follows Monday’s slip up in housing market index
(HMI) and a slew of less than encouraging readings on the sector
last month. That said, there is nevertheless some evidence of
improvement on the housing front, likely setting up the sector for
gains in the long run.
In today’s reading, we got a weaker than expected 5.8% decline
in Housing Starts to the annualized rate of 654K in March. This
follows the 2.8% drop in February to the 694K level (modestly
revised down). Permits were a different story altogether, likely
indicating more strength down the road. Housing Permits increased
to their highest level since September 2008, by rising 4.5% in
March to the annualized rate off 747K. Starts had increased by 4.8%
in February to the 715K annualized rate. This set of data doesn’t
negate the ‘green shoots’ narrative, but it doesn’t build on it
either.
On the earnings front, Goldman Sachs (GS) came
out with a solid earnings and revenue beat and raised its dividend.
And contrary to trends in estimate revisions with the rest of the
corporate world, Goldman’s estimates had been moving up lately,
increasing by almost 14% in the past month alone. We also got an
earnings and revenue beat out of Coke (KO), while
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) modestly came ahead of
EPS expectations on roughly in-line revenues. Today’s flood of
earnings reports continues throughout the day, with tech giants
Intel (INTC), IBM (IBM) and
Yahoo (YHOO) reporting after the close.
Sheraz Mian
Director of Research
GOLDMAN SACHS (GS): Free Stock Analysis Report
INTL BUS MACH (IBM): Free Stock Analysis Report
INTEL CORP (INTC): Free Stock Analysis Report
JOHNSON & JOHNS (JNJ): Free Stock Analysis Report
COCA COLA CO (KO): Free Stock Analysis Report
YAHOO! INC (YHOO): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research?
Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click
to get this free report
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024