Earnings Reports and Analyst Ratings: Why Goldman Sachs, Lockheed Martin, and 3 Other Stocks Have Investors Buzzing

Grainger Misses the Mark

W W Grainger Inc (NYSE:GWW) earned $2.89 per share on sales of $2.56 billion, missing the consensus marks by $0.28 per share and $20 million with its second quarter financial results. Although total sales rose by 1.6% year-over-year, the company’s organic sales inched lower by 2% and gross margin dropped by 200 basis points to 40.6%. Full-year 2016 guidance was for diluted EPS of $11.20-to-$12.20 on a sales rise of 1%-to-4%. Management previously guided for earnings per share of between $11.00 and $12.80 on a sales rise of between flat and 6%. 21 funds that we track owned shares of W W Grainger Inc (NYSE:GWW) at the end of the first quarter, up by one quarter-over-quarter.

Belden Easily Exceeds Estimates

Traders are watching Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) today after the company reported second quarter EPS of $1.54 on revenue of $603.4 million. Those numbers beat the consensus analyst estimate by $0.28 per share for the bottom line and $21.15 million for the top line. Adjusted EBITDA margin rose by 120 basis points to 17.9%, while gross profit margin inched up by 130 basis points to 41.3%. Due to the strong results, management now expects full-year EPS of $3.23-to-$3.43 versus the previously guided range of $2.84-to-$3.14. Full-year revenue is anticipated to come in between $2.355 billion and $2.385 billion, up slight from prior estimates of $2.32 billion-to-$2.37 billion. Of the 766 active funds in our system, 18 of them owned $113.65 million in Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC) positions on March 31, which accounted for 4.40% of the float.

Analyst Give the Thumbs Up to Star Bulk 

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) is in the spotlight today after analysts at JPMorgan upgraded the stock to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’ and set a $6.50 price target on it. Although China’s economy is still slow, many commodity prices have increased. If dry bulk commodity demand rises either due to China’s economy improving or emerging markets growing, demand for bulk shipping will increase. Seven funds in our system were long Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) at the end of March, unchanged over the quarter.

Disclosure: None