CHICAGO, April 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com
announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every
day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and
events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently
featured in the blog include: Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL),
Verizon (NYSE: VZ), AT&T's (NYSE: T),
Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) and Eaton Corporation
(NYSE: ETN).
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Here are highlights from Wednesday's Analyst Blog:
Apple Beats EPS by Almost 20%
Earnings homerun slugger Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) went
yard once again when it announced earnings results for 2nd quarter
2011 Wednesday after the bell. Earnings of $6.40 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate
of $5.35 by 19.6%. Quarterly revenues
of $24.67 billion easily topped
expectations of $23.1 billion.
The after-market cheered the results and sent AAPL shares up nearly
$9 after the closing bell, for a gain
of ovber 2.5%. This followed a more tempered 1.35% gain during
normal trading hours today.
Sales of iPhones stood out -- 18.65 million phones were sold in the
quarter, up from the 16.3 million expected. Verizon (NYSE:
VZ) now offering iPhones has clearly been a positive, as was
AT&T's (NYSE: T) report earlier that its iPhone business
performed better than expected in the quarter.
Gross margins of 41.4% show continued strength -- the company's
earlier warning about gross margin compression has yet to manifest.
Macs sold totaled 3.67 million, which was in line with
expectations, but iPad sales of 4.7 million was notably fewer than
the 6 million anticipated.
Apple Inc's earnings beat is all the more impressive considering
that there has been extensive upward pressure on earnings estimates
over the past month. Thirteen analysts had upwardly revised AAPL
estimates for the quarter in the past 30 days, pushing the EPS
estimate from $5.25 at the start of
the quarter to $5.35 before earnings
were announced.
Even more impressive is that the 19.6% positive earnings surprise
is actually lower than the surprise average over the preceding 4
quarters. In the year-ago quarter, Apple Inc. brought in
$3.33 -- a 37% surprise over the
Zacks Consensus Estimate. Year over year, Apple Inc's EPS has
increased a stunning 82.73%.
Typically, Apple Inc. has followed up the big earnings and revenue
beat with conservative guidance for the following quarter. The
company now says it expects $5.03 per
share in its fiscal 3rd quarter, where the Zacks Consensus Estimate
was $5.25. But count on that
$5.03 figure getting beaten soundly;
few people look with dire concern at lowered guidance from Apple
these days.
Hanesbrands Beats, Ups Guidance
Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) reported its first quarter
2011 results on April 20, 2011. The
company reported earnings of 49 cents
which was 32% higher than 37 cents
per share reported in the prior year quarter.
Earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 33 cents by 48.5%. Profits were primarily
impacted by acquisitions, organic growth and operational
efficiency.
Following strong results in the quarter the company raised its
full-year 2011 diluted EPS guidance to a range of $2.70 to $2.90, 10
cents up from the previous guidance of $2.60 to $2.80.
Revenues and Operating Profits
Total revenue for the quarter climbed 11.7% to $1,306.41 million from $927.84 million in the year-ago period. The
growth in net sales was driven by strong performance of the
acquired 'Gear For Sports' business, organic Outerwear segment
growth and International growth.
The Outerwear segment's 'Gear For Sports' business, acquired in
November 2010, added 5 percentage
points to the company's 12% sales gain and contributed 3 cents of the 11
cents increase in EPS.
Hanes' expects net sales to remain in the range of $4.9 billion to $5 billion, with the low end of
the range having increased from $4.85
billion. The company raised prices appropriately to deal
with input-cost inflation, and expects leverage of scale and
infrastructure to reap the benefits of increased sales and
acquisitions. Hanesbrands delivered operating margin expansion of
60 basis points (bps) to 9.8% in the quarter.
Eaton Races Ahead of Estimates
Industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation (NYSE: ETN)
today released its first quarter 2011 earnings results, which grew
75% year over year, on a per share basis, mainly on a 14%
end-market growth.
Eaton's operating earnings per
share reached 84 cents in the
quarter, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 80 cents and exceeding the first quarter guidance
range of $1.50 - $1.60. In the
year-ago period, the Cleveland,
Ohio-based company had earned 48
cents per share.
Revenue
In the first quarter, Eaton
earned net quarterly revenue of $3.8
billion, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.6 billion, up 23% from the year-ago comparable
period. Revenue growth in the quarter stemmed mainly from a 19%
rise in organic sales, 2% from acquisitions and 2% from higher
foreign exchange rates.
During the quarter, Eaton
witnessed robust sales growth across all its business segments,
with Electrical Americas, Hydraulics and Truck markets growing more
strongly than expected.
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