Apple (AAPL), United Continental (UAL), Qualcomm (QCOM) Among the Stocks Grabbing Headlines Today

United Stock Flies Lower on Earnings

United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL)‘s stock is flying 7% lower today after the company turned in a mixed quarter. For the January-to-March period, United Continental earned $1.23 on revenue of $8.19 billion, beating by $0.05 on the bottom-line, but missing by $20 million on the top-line. A negative factor in the earnings report was soft passenger revenue per available seat mile, which fell by 7.4% year-over-year, while consolidated unit cost per available seat mile declined by 5.7% year-over-year. Rising crude prices could also have an effect on the un-hedged portion of United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL)’s fuel expenses down the road. Cliff Asness‘ AQR Capital Management owned more than 6.00 million United Continental shares at the end of the fourth quarter.

Apple Honors a Beloved Coach

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares are trending after the tech giant delayed its quarterly earnings release to April 26 from April 25 due to the memorial service being held on that day for Silicon Valley ‘coach’ Bill Campbell, who mentored Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Larry Page, among others. Shares of the company are down by 1.2% but trade at a cheap 10.7-times forward earnings estimates. Of the 786 elite funds we track, 133 of them owned $17.72 billion worth of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s shares  on December 31, which accounted for 3.00% of the float.

Citrix Shares Take Off on Strong Earnings Report

Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) shares have surged by 7.44% out of the gate after the tech company soundly beat analysts’ estimates by posting first quarter EPS of $1.18 on revenue of $826 million, while analysts had expected by EPS of $0.92 and revenue of $789 million. Guidance was also strong, with management anticipating full-year adjusted EPS of $4.90-to-$5.00 and full-year revenue of $3.34 billion-to-$3.36 billion. CEO Kirill Tatarinov offered the following in a press release:

“We are seeing a strong improvement in our operating margin, and our focused strategy has made it easier for our field teams and channel partners to execute; consequently, we saw improvement in the top line. It gives us a measure of confidence that we are on the right path, and it gives us opportunities to solidify our leadership position in our core areas.”

Paul Singer‘s Elliott Management was the top shareholder of Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) in our system, with more than 6.7 million shares in its portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter. The activist firm took a position in the company last June and has been pushing it to explore its strategic options.

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