Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Markets closed off session lows today — which were -620 points on the Dow earlier this afternoon — but have rebounded somewhat. The Dow finished the day -409 points, -0.96%, while the S&P 500 nearly mirrored that output, -0.92%. The Nasdaq dropped the biggest percentage, -1.60%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 rolled off -0.79%.

Economic reports were fairly minor today, with September Existing Home Sales matching estimates at 3.84 million seasonally adjusted, annualized units, down a tad from 3.88 million reported the previous month. Also, the Fed Beige Book was flat for the most part, with only New York and Chicago showing slight gains.

Tesla Posts Mixed Q3 After the Close

EV leader Tesla TSLA outperformed on its bottom line for its Q3 report this afternoon, with 72 cents per share easily taking out the 58 cents in the Zacks consensus. Revenues of $25.2 billion, however, came up short of consensus $25.57 billion. 

We already knew deliveries had come in at 463K (470K on Production), but Gross Margins were above estimates at +19.8%. The press release also promised some new models out in the first half of 2025, but this is a bit of a stretch of believability, even for Tesla.

Check out the updated Zacks Earnings Calendar here.

ServiceNow Beats and Raises in Q3

ServiceNow NOW, a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)-rated stock going into its earnings release this afternoon. Earnings beat estimates by 24 cents to $3.72 per share in the quarter, while revenues of $2.79 billion outpaced the $2.74 billion expected. Full-year revenue guidance was raised, and the company cited strong AI business transformation growth in the quarter. But shares sold the news a bit right away, but have been steadily moving back toward the closing price in late trading.

IBM Posts Mixed Q3

IBM IBM outperformed on its Q3 bottom line after the closing bell today, which is no surprise: IBM has only two earnings misses over the past five years. Revenues, however, came in light of expectations: $15.0 billion versus $15.19 billion. The tech conglomerate was led by +14% growth in its Red Hat segment. Shares are down -3% in after-hours trading.

Las Vegas Sands Up After Q3 Misses

Even though Las Vegas Sands LVS posted a -12% miss on earnings to 44 cents per share (it reported 55 cents per share in the year-ago quarter) and revenues of $2.68 billion coming in -4.3% lower year over year and below the estimated $2.80 billion, shares are up +3% in the late session. A 20-cent dividend increase and $2 billion in share repurchases may have sweetened the deal for investors while they deal with their slow-rolling poker players. It’s their 12th earnings miss in the past 20 quarters. 

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