Morning Earnings Roundup: Netflix Posts Huge Gains

Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) disappointing earnings are the talk of the investment world right now. But the world’s largest company wasn’t the only one to take its quarterly temperature in the last 24 hours.

Several other big-name companies reported earnings last night and this morning, and some of the results were more well received with investors.

Here were some of the more noteworthy non-Apple companies to report earnings since the market closed on Wednesday:

  • Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX): What a turnaround for the video-subscription business. On the heels of a disastrous year – falling from a high of $300 a share to a low of $53 a share – no one was expecting much from Netflix in the fourth quarter. But the company booked profits of 13 cents a share, defying Wall Street estimates of a 13-cents-per-share loss. The surprising earnings beat is doing wonders the stock, sending NFLX shares up 37% in early trading. At $141 a share, this is the highest the stock has been since September 2011.
  • Xerox (NYSE: XRX): The copy-machine giant had its best quarter-to-quarter improvement in more than a year, as earnings beat analyst estimates. The company’s earnings of 30 cents a share edged forecasts of 29 cents a share. The narrow beat was enough to push shares up more than 4% this morning.
  • United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL): The newly conjoined venture between United and Continental airlines struggled in the fourth quarter, posting a loss of $620 million. Luckily, the stock wasn’t punished, as the company’s losses on an earnings-per-share basis were no worse than what analysts were expecting. That’s why the stock is up 2.5% this morning.

As the dust starts to settle on Apple’s earnings miss, more companies are set to report later today. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and AT&T (NYSE: T) both report after the bell.

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