It has gone almost completely unnoticed amid the government shutdown, the debt ceiling, and the start of Obamacare. But third-quarter earnings season began this week.
Alcoa (NYSE: AA) unofficially kicked things off on Tuesday with a solid beat. The aluminum maker produced Q3 earnings of 2 cents per share, a big change from last year’s 13-cents-per-share loss. Alcoa shares have risen 5% in the three days since its glowing earnings report.
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) kicked off bank earnings today with record third-quarter profits. The biggest originator of U.S. home loans saw net income increase 13% last quarter despite a slumping mortgage business. Releasing loan loss reserves – as many U.S. banks did last quarter – helped boost otherwise modest earnings.
Fellow big bank JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) fared much worse, suffering a $9 billion quarterly loss due mostly to high legal costs. Minus those costs, however, the bank managed to beat earnings expectations – as did Wells Fargo.
So that’s three major beats in the first week. Let’s hope the trend continues next week – even if Wall Street isn’t paying much attention to earnings these days. That could change the second the government shutdown ends or a debt deal gets done.
Here are some of the headliners set to report earnings next week, including the remaining big banks:
Tuesday
- Intel (NASDAQ: INTC)
- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
- Coke (NYSE: KO)
- Citigroup (NYSE: C)
- Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO)
Wednesday
- American Express (NYSE: AXP)
- Bank of America (NYSE: BAC)
- eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY)
- Pepsi (NYSE: PEP)
Thursday
- Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS)
- Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)
- Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS)
- Philip Morris (NYSE: PM)
- Verizon (NYSE: VZ)
Friday
- General Electric (NYSE: GE)
- Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS)