Main street versus Wall Street: A mixed bag of corporate earnings
Last week, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said that main street is doing better than Wall Street. Judging by today’s second quarter corporate results coming out of the US this afternoon, he could have a point.
PepsiCo reported a 35 per cent boost in net income to $2.01bn, or $1.28 per share, up from 94 cents per share last year. And cutting out items like gains from divesting its Vietnam bottling operations, core profits rose to $1.31 per share – a massive beat from last year’s earnings per share of $1.12 and analysts’ estimates of $1.19.
Meanwhile, commercial jet sales pushed Boeing’s profits up by a better-than-expected 13 per cent, pushing shares to a record high. Some $40bn of new orders and the successful launch of the Dreamliner 787-10 led the company to raise its full year revenue forecast to $5.10-$5.30 per share from $5.00-$5.20.
And Ford shares have joined in, rising nearly three per cent after reporting earnings of 45 cents per share against expectations of 37 cents. Apple last night reported $7.47 per share against estimates of $7.32.
Of course, there are exceptions. Equipment-maker Caterpillar missed earnings estimates by a quarter. AT&T beat estimates on revenue but missed on profits. And while Apple and Ford shares have remained strong since the open, something has pushed down the initial gains made by PepsiCo and Boeing.
Source: Yahoo