Reconciling Bad Economic Data and Good Earnings

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. We have coined this term to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government, which involve unprecedented money printing. This is the official blog of the New York Investing meetup.


So far this earnings season, company reports indicate that business is going gangbusters. U.S. economic reports are painting exactly the opposite picture however. This may not be as contradictory as it appears on the surface.

As for earnings, Intel reported record numbers yesterday, after Alcoa upgraded its forecast for global aluminum sales and U.S. railroad company CSX said shipments were up considerably. This morning however U.S. retail sales numbers disappointed again, falling 0.5% in June following a 1.1% drop in May. Mortgages for home purchases fell to a 14-year low. According to the non-farms payroll reports, close to a million people net left the U.S. labor market in May and June because jobs were so scarce that they simply gave up looking.  Later today, the Federal Reserve is expected to lower its expectations for second half U.S. economic growth.

One of the important things to note is that both Intel and Alcoa are global companies. While many people assume that the U.S. is Intel's major market, it isn't. East Asia dominates Intel's sales. Strong Intel numbers generally indicate a robust East Asian economy. Growth has indeed been strong there. Intel's biggest growth sector by far was servers, which were up 170%. These are used for the Internet. Intel also cited cloud computing as a driver of sales. It is possible for a new technology to grow while the economy declines. The best example of this is the growth of radio during the Great Depression 1930s.

As for Alcoa, its projections may prove to be much too bullish. Industrial metals appear weak across the board and this indicates global manufacturing could turn negative in the next few months. CSX's good numbers were dependent on auto shipments. That market in the U.S. peaked in the third quarter of 2009 because of the Cash for Clunkers program. In the June retail sales report, autos were the weakest component.

Investors should not make judgments for the U.S. economy based on figures for global companies, especially when the U.S. is only a minority of their business. The U.S. economy can be much weaker than Asian economies. Asia was in the driver seat pulling the world out of the Credit Crisis recession and the U.S. followed. The U.S. may lead once again though bringing the world into the next recession.

Disclosure: No positions

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Alcoa and CSX Earnings: Not as Positive as They Look

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. We have coined this term to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government, which involve unprecedented money printing. This is the official blog of the New York Investing meetup.


The Q2 earnings season began with aluminum company Alcoa and rail freight operator CSX reporting on Monday. The stock market reacted jubilantly to the news. Careful examination however indicates there is very little reason for economic optimism based on these releases.

On the surface, comparisons looked good versus the Q2 2009. However, Q2 2009 was right off the Great Recession bottom and it would be almost impossible not to do a lot better. Alcoa's (AA) revenue was up 18% and CSX's (CSX) was up 22%. A 44% increased in metals freight shipments by CSX were seen as verification that Alcoa should be doing better. Automotive shipments by CSX were up 63% by volume year over year and vehicle manufacturing requires a lot of aluminum. It all looks really good as long as you don't look any further.

New car sales were in the dumps in Q2 2009 with only around 9.6 million vehicles sold. By Q3 2009 however around 11.5 million vehicles were sold (thanks to Cash for Clunkers), so comparisons next quarter are going to be difficult for both CSX and Alcoa. Approximately 11.2 million vehicles were sold in the U.S. in Q2 2010, but sales dropped 11% between May and June (the usual seasonal drop is 3%). So it looks like the summer will be weak for auto sales and sales for Q3 2010 will possibly be much lower than the previous year's level. This can only negatively impact next quarter's earnings for both Alcoa and CSX.

The market also got excited about Alcoa's revising its global demand forecast up 10% to 12%. While this would certainly be good news if it happens, traders seemed skeptical based on the action in the stock. Alcoa peaked in January and has been trading in a bearish pattern since mid-May. The stock is up only a very modest amount so far today. After a six-month drop, a more enthusiastic reaction should be expected on good news.

The stock market is supposed to look forward at least six months. Earnings are backward looking. They are only significant to the extent that the underlying trends that created last quarter's earnings continue to hold. There is a lot of reason to believe that this will not be the case. Big government stimulus programs are fading and the economy is weakening, not strengthening as it was a year ago.

Disclosure: No positions

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.