The following are some of the companies that have released earnings reports this evening that are being seen as disappointing by analysts. Being that some of these are market-moving stocks, we should see blood on the floor of the exchanges tomorrow. We won’t bother posting how much the stock prices of these companies are changing in after hours trading, as some of them like Apple (AAPL) keep moving lower.
Apple (AAPL), American Express (AXP), Merck (MRK), Boston Scientific (BSX), Eagle Materials (EXP), Sandisk (SNDK). American Express and Apple will be the major problem for the market. American Express is down over 11% already and Apple is down almost 10%. American Express is already dragging down the financials as some of the major names such as Lehman, Mastercard (MA) and Visa (V) are now down in after hours trading as well.
As much as Apple is down, things might get worse in regular trading tomorrow, unless the company steps up its PR game between now and 9:30 am tomorrow. In addition to the earnings news, which were actually good but the company guided lower, there are now rumors circulating about Steve Job’s health - he successfully underwent surgery for a rare form of pancreatic cancer four years ago - and the company just added fuel to the flames by holding an earnings conference call that Steve Jobs did not attend.
An analyst at the conference call asked about Steve Job’s health and the CFO said that that was a private matter. That unfortunately, sounds like a “No comment” response from a politician and unless Steve Job’s is indeed ill, we hope they are smart enough to address the situation better before the market opens tomorrow.