Apple (AAPL) Bulls Are Charging Again, While Schlumberger, Starbucks and American Express Are Making Earnings Moves of their Own

It looks like the week is set to end on a positive note, as U.S stocks are rallying again today alongside oil prices. The Dow is up by triple digits on hopes of stimulus in the Euro zone and Japan. In this article we’ll take a look at why Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trending and what’s driving Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB), Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG), Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) in varying directions today.

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) bulls are roaring again. Although the new iPhone 7 is not set to be released for another six or seven months, analysts are already crunching the numbers to try and guess how high the new smartphone could push the stock. Gene Munster, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, believes the stock is a buy and expects it to surge by as much as 50% during the next six months, based on previous cycles related to the release of past iPhone versions. Apple shares have crossed the $100 threshold today, gaining over 4% today.

Although Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of hedge funds’ favorite stocks, the recent selloff drove investors away, with the total number of long hedge fund positions of those funds in our system dropping to 133 by the end of the third quarter of 2015, from 144 at the end of June. Carl Icahn remains the biggest fan of Apple in our database, with his fund holding 52.7 million shares according to its latest 13F filing.

Shareholders of Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) should be very pleased today, as the stock is up by roughly 5% after the firms latest earnings report was released yesterday. The company posted earnings of $0.65 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.63 per share. Revenue fell by 9% to $7.74 billion, below the consensus of $7.79 billion. The company said it plans to further reduce its workforce by 10,000 employees as the slump in the oil market continues to negatively impact business. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Schlumberger is also in talks to repurchase its Iranian unit, Well Services of Iran, but the talks are in early stages and no further details are available.

Schlumberger Limited. (NYSE:SLB) gained in popularity among hedge funds, with 61 of the funds we follow having reported a stake in the company as of the end of September, up from 55 a quarter earlier. Ken Griffin is betting heavily on this stock, having boosted his stake by nearly 150% during the quarter, amassing a little over 8.5 million shares.

Find out why Intuitive Surgical, Starbucks, and American Express are trending today on the following pages.

Impressive fourth quarter results have pushed Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) higher today by about 1.5%, as the maker of da Vinci surgical systems reported a 29% surge in profits. Net income climbed to $190 million or $5.89 per share when adjusted for one-time costs, easily beating Wall Street expectations of $5.02 per share. Revenue increased as well, to $676.5 million, up by 12% year-over-year, and in-line with analysts’ expectations. For the full 2015 year, the company reported revenue of $2.38 billion and earnings of $15.54 per share.

Hedge funds did not rush out to buy Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG) shares during the third quarter, as the number of long positions slightly increased during the quarter to 34, less than 5% of the funds we track. Samuel Isaly’s Orbimed Advisors holds the largest position, having reported ownership of 239,000 shares, down by 21% over the quarter.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) has been mostly in the red today, though it’s largely made up most of its losses after the bell, trading down by just 0.76% now. Investors were not impressed by the company’s forward guidance for the second quarter of fiscal year 2016, with Starbucks expecting earnings in the range of $0.38 to $0.39 per share, while analysts were looking for $0.40 per share. Starbucks also said that it expects revenue from overseas to suffer from the strong dollar. The news eclipsed the earnings results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2016 that the company issued yesterday after the market close, which amounted to revenue of $5.37 billion, up by 12% year-over-year, and earnings of $0.46 per share, slightly beating earnings estimates of $0.45 per share and falling slightly short of revenue expectations of $5.39 billion.

Hedge fund sentiment towards Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) improved a bit during the third quarter, with the number of long positions rising to 54 or 7.5% of the funds we follow. Steve Cohen is very bullish on this stock, having increased his bet by a whooping 900% over the quarter. His fund, Point72 Asset Management, holds 1.76 million shares according to its latest quarterly report.

American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) is set for some major changes after a poor string of quarterly reports and a bleak outlook for the current year. For the fourth quarter, the financial numbers were as follows: revenue of $8.39 billion, down by 7.6% year-over-year, and earnings of $0.89 per share, down from $1.39 a share a year earlier. Analysts, in turn, were expecting $8.34 billion in revenue and a profit of $1.12 per share. The management of American Express admits it’s time to take some measures and has pledged to cut costs by $1 billion by the end of 2017. Those promises have failed to assuage investors however, as shares have dropped by over 12% today.

At the end of September, roughly 22% of American Express Company (NYSE:AXP)’s common stock was held by 52 elite funds in our database, down from 57 a quarter before. The company has a notorious backer and strong ally in the person of Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway continues to hold more than 151 million American Express shares, which account for nearly 9% of its public equity portfolio.

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