Here’s How These Companies Did For Their Latest Earnings Results

Although it’s just the beginning of the week for investors, the earnings season is in full swing. Among the companies that have reported their latest results on Monday are Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS), Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII), Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB), and J B Hunt Transport Services Inc (NASDAQ:JBHT).

Let’s examine the earnings reports of each company and take a closer look at what the smart money investors from our database think about them.

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Like its other peers, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) reported a strong third quarter, with EPS of $0.41 on revenue of $21.64 billion, beating the Street’s estimates by $0.08 and $700 million, respectively. Sales advanced by 3.1% year-over-year and tangible book value inched up 11% year-over-year to $17.14. Book value rose by an annual 8% to $24.19 per share and the bank realized a respectable ROTCE of 10.3% for the period. The bank’s bottom line topped the expectations in part due to cost cuts and strong bond trading activity. If interest rates normalize and the economy remains strong (and nothing bad happens in Europe), many investors expect Bank of America to do well fundamentally. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management cut its stake in Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) by 18% quarter-over-quarter to 35.7 million shares held at the end of September.

Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) shares have jumped by over 6% after the toy maker reported results that were ahead of expectations. In its third quarter, Hasbro earned $2.03 per share, beating the average analyst estimate by $0.29 per share. Revenue for the period was $1.68 billion, up by 14.3% year-over-year, and $120 million ahead of the consensus estimate. Sales rose by 16% year-over-year in Canada and the United States and by 13% internationally. Franchise brand sales inched up 2% and operating margin rose 1 percentage point to 21.6%. The number of funds from our database with holdings in Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) fell by four quarter-over-quarter to 26 at the end of June.

On the next page, we take a look at the financial results of Lennox International, Ameris Bancorp, and J B Hunt Transport Services.
Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) is in the spotlight after reporting earnings of $2.33 per share on sales of $1.01 billion for its third quarter. Wall Street was expecting earnings of $2.24 per share and around $1 billion in sales. The company’s revenue went up by 5.8% year-over-year, led by the Residential Heating & Cooling segment’s 11% growth. Lennox’s gross margin inched up 210 basis points to 30.7% and the management expects fiscal 2016 adjusted EPS of $6.75-$6.95 and sales to gain between 4% and 6%. A total of 15 funds tracked by us owned shares of Lennox International Inc. (NYSE:LII) at the end of June, down by two funds from the previous quarter.

Traders are watching Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) after the company reported EPS of $0.61 per share for its third quarter, or $0.02 per share ahead of the consensus estimate. Revenue for the three months amounted to $85.93 million, $0.09 million ahead of the average analyst estimate, and up by 18.7% on the year. Organic growth in loans clocked in at a 22.9% annualized rate, and operating return on assets came in at a respectable 1.35%. Tangible book value rose to $14.38 per share versus $12.65 per share at the end of 2015. Among the funds we track, 12 funds owned $84.41 million worth of Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB)’s stock, which accounted for 8.20% of the float on June 30, versus 11 funds and $88.86 million, respectively, on March 31.

J B Hunt Transport Services Inc (NASDAQ:JBHT) is in the red after reporting softer-than-expected earnings for its third quarter. During the period, J B Hunt Transport earned $0.97 per share, versus Wall Street’s estimate of $1.03 per share. Revenue came in at $1.69 billion, up by 6.3% on the year, and was $10 million ahead of the consensus estimate. Operating margin for the period inched lower by 140 basis points to 10.8%. The softer results were mainly due to increased equipment maintenance costs, lower customer rates per mile, higher insurance and safety costs, and increased driver hiring costs, which more than offset the favorable changes from higher utilization and increased fleet count. A total of 28 funds from our database were long J B Hunt Transport Services Inc (NASDAQ:JBHT) at the end of the second quarter.

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