Strong Earnings Are Driving These Stocks Higher This Morning

Under Armour Powers Up on Earnings

Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) shares have ramped up by 6.2% this morning after the sports brand delivered a top and bottom-line beat. Given that channel checks showed lower-than-expected demand, many analysts were not overly bullish going into earnings, but Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) proved the bears wrong. For the first quarter, Under Armour reported EPS of $0.04, more than double the expected earnings per share of $0.02. Revenue was $1.05 billion, up by 30.4% year-over-year, and $30 million higher than the consensus estimate. The company’s top and bottom-line beat was due to stronger-than-expected apparel demand, in addition to the launches of new basketball shoes and running shoes. The number of elite funds in our system with shares of Under Armour inched up by two to 25 during the fourth quarter.

D.R. Horton Exceeds Bottom-line Estimates 

The strong U.S economy has boosted D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI)‘s sales, as the company’s home sales jumped by 15.9% year-over-year to $2.69 billion for its second quarter of fiscal year 2016. Although that number was only in-line with estimates, D. R. Horton’s earnings soundly beat expectations by $0.05 per share, as it delivered EPS of $0.52. Pre-tax profit margin rose by 130 basis points to 10.9%, while the company’s sales order backlog rose by 14% to $4.1 billion. The company increased its full fiscal year 2016 guidance for consolidated pre-tax profit margin to 10.7%-to-11.2% and reaffirmed its fiscal year 2016 revenue guidance of $12 billion-to-$12.5 billion. Ken Heebner‘s Capital Growth Management owned 9.02 million shares of D.R. Horton, Inc. (NYSE:DHI) at the end of the fourth quarter. Shares are 2.58% higher in morning trading.

PulteGroup Beats on Both Lines 

Home builder PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) also turned in an excellent quarter, beating both the top and bottom-line expectations of analysts, as it earned $0.24 per share on revenue of $1.43 billion, exceeding earnings estimates by $0.04 per share and revenue estimates by $70 million. Sales jumped by 26.5% year-over-year. PulteGroup’s backlog ended the quarter at 8,755 homes, valued at $3.4 billion, up from 7,624 homes valued at $2.6 billion at the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2015. The average price of a home in the backlog was $384,000, up by 14% year-over-year. Legg Mason Capital Management, now a part of Clearbridge, was one of the top elite shareholders of PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) that we track, as of December 31.

Disclosure: None