US Stocks Higher Wednesday

AAR Corp stock rose on earnings beat

Author's Avatar
Sep 26, 2018
Article's Main Image

U.S. stocks advanced on Wednesday morning with benchmarks nearly all-time highs, as investors are awaiting the Federal Reserve decision on interest rates in the afternoon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up 0.19% to 26,542, the S&P 500 index rose 0.25% to 2,922, while the Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 0.37% to 8,036.

Shares of AAR Corp. (AIR, Financial) jumped more than 6% on Wednesday morning after the company posted first quarter earnings per share of 54 cents on $466.3 million in revenue, reflecting 17.2% year-over-year growth. The company beat earnings estimates by 2 cents and revenue estimations by $13.37 million.

The gross profit margins declined to 15.3% from 15.5% in the prior year quarter due primarily to lower volumes in our airframe maintenance facilities.

Sales to government and defense customers were 32.4% of consolidated sales compared to 23.3% in the same trimester of the past year, due to growth from the WASS program and other government sales.

First quarter sales to commercial customers, which also increased during the period, represented 67.6% of consolidated sales compared to 76.7% of consolidated sales in the first quarter of last year.

Gainers

· Incyte Corp. (INCY, Financial)

· SCANA Corp. (SCG, Financial)

· Viacom Inc. (VIAB, Financial)

· Foot Locker Inc. (FL, Financial)

· Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX, Financial)

Losers

· Cintas Corp. (CTAS, Financial)

· Carmax Inc. (KMX, Financial)

· EQT Corp. (EQT, Financial)

· Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG, Financial)

· Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD, Financial)

Global markets

The main European stock markets traded higher. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.05%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.61%, Germany's Dax jumped 0.09% and Spain's Ibex 35 gained 0.33%.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.39%, India’s BSE Sensex fell 0.30%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.15% and China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.92%.

Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.