Diamonds and Dogs

2/1/19

Chevron (CVX) and Exxon (XOM) are gushing oil. Both oil giants are up over 3% following better than expected earnings. Sales at Chevron rose 12% to $42.35 billion while Exxon saw sales rise 8.1% to $71.89 billion. Thanks to strong cash flow, Exxon reduced its debt by 9% in the quarter. The company also received an upgrade with a $100 price target. Chevron authorized a new $25 billion share buyback plan. A good time to be an oil company.

Amazon (AMZN) stumbles, sort of. Amazon is down over 4%, one of the weakest S&P 500 components, following earnings. Amazon actually beat estimates by 53 cents as sales rose 19.7% to $72.38 billion (better sales than Exxon Mobil). However, Amazon lowered guidance for the first quarter to $56-60 billion vs. $61.04 billion estimates. Operating income will be in a range of $2.3-3.3 billion vs. $3.0 billion estimates. The analysts are unfazed maintaining price targets of $1900 to $2200 a share or 18% to 40% upside for the stock.