The Stock Market’s Best Day in Two Month

Today was a good day for Wall Street. The S&P 500 is back over 1200 as the index posted its best gain since March 5. The S&P 500 gained 1.31% today while our Buy List did slightly better gaining 1.43%. The only sore spot was Sysco (SYY) which dropped 1.6% after it reported decent earnings (don’t ask me).
I was very pleased to see Nicholas Financial (NICK) close at $8.75 which is a new two-year high. The company is set to report earnings this week and I’m expecting EPS of around 25 cents a share. I continue to believe this is a hugely under-priced stock.
I think I might get in trouble for writing this on the Internet, but this earnings season has been very, very good.

The first-quarter earnings season is shaping up to be one of the strongest in decades. About two-thirds of S&P 500-stock index companies reported earnings by last Friday, with 78% beating analysts’ estimates, according to Thomson Reuters. And they beat them by an impressive 16.3% on average. If that rate holds, it will be the highest since 1994.
That performance has come amid signs of broad-based, sustainable growth. Fourth-quarter earnings were influenced by strong financial-sector results; strength appears to be more widely spread in the first quarter.
Excluding financials, year-on-year earnings growth is tracking at about 35% in the first quarter, up from 18% in the fourth quarter. Nine in 10 companies in the technology and consumer-discretionary sectors have beaten estimates.

Posted by on May 3rd, 2010 at 6:08 pm


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.