Dow Jones insurance heavyweight Travelers, top oil field services play SLB and leading truck fleet operator J.B. Hunt were some of Friday's top earnings movers.
Travelers led the Dow Jones Industrial Average in morning trade, extending a recent breakout after reporting earnings Friday morning. The Estero, Fla.-based company delivered earnings of $7.01 per share, a 106% jump and well above views for $5.07. Revenue rose 13% to $10.93 billion, also topping the $9.99 billion target.
The earnings upturn snapped a six-quarter losing streak, although revenue growth had shown modest acceleration over those quarters. The Dow Jones stock leapt 4.7% in morning trade, putting it more than 30% above a late-October low. It also lifted shares beyond a buy zone above a 194.51 buy point.
Trucking fleet operator J.B. Hunt rallied 4% at the open, then pared gains as analysts gave generally positive reviews to the company's late Thursday Q4 results. A 23% drop in earnings, to $1.47 per share, was sharply below analyst expectations of $1.75. Revenue fell 9% to $3.30 billion. The analyst consensus target was $3.28 billion.
Analysts from Barclays, TD Cowen and Bank of America raised price targets on the stock following the report. Cowen was lowest among those, at 199. BofA has the highest target, at 216. JPMorgan trimmed its target to 209, from 212.
J.B. Hunt shares were up less than 1% Friday morning, trading below a handle buy point at 207.64.
Aker Acquisition Boosts SLB
Oil field services leader SLB, formerly Schlumberger, jumped 4% at the start of trade Friday. Revenue and earnings narrowly topped the analyst consensus targets. It hiked its quarterly dividend 10%, to above 27 cents, and it also lifted its share repurchase initiative by 10%. International revenue outpaced North America, growing 18% while North America was relatively flat. The company said revenue from its October acquisition of Aker, a specialist in offshore, subsea services, accounted for 70% of that growth. Minus Aker, international revenue grew 10% year on year, its 10th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.
SLB shares have lagged along with oil prices, and as U.S. rig activity and the outlook for Permian Basin production remains uncertain. Shares are trying to form a bottom in a five-month consolidation, trading more than 20% below a September high.
SLB rival Halliburton is scheduled to report results on Tuesday.
