Morning Coffee Pre-Market Wall Street News

Q1 Earnings Season Starts Today. The first quarter earnings season is set to get kicked off today after the market close with Alcoa reporting. Wall Street analysts expect the company to report Q1 EPS of $0.09 versus year ago earnings of $0.10. As always the first week of earnings season could bring some volatility as companies report their earnings.  At RL Paler Investment Advisors, LLC president Rick Paler said that “We believe that company earnings need to come in better than expected, since the S&P 500 index is currently trading at just 5% below Wall Street estimates.” This is the closest level in over 7 years, historically the S&P 500 index trades around 14% below Wall Street estimates. He went on to say “A weak or average earnings season could put an end to the recent rally.”

Upgrades

Juniper Networks (JNPR): Argus raised their rating from Hold to Buy and placed a target price of $22.00 on the company. Pre-market: 17.90 +0.35 (1.99%)

Lukoil Holdings (LUKOY): Goldman Sachs raised their rating from Neutral to Buy. After Hours: 61.64 0.00 (0.00%)

Northrop Grumman (NOC): JPMorgan raised their rating from Underweight to Neutral.

Downgrades

CA Tech (CA): Mizuho lowered their rating from But to Neutral and lowered their target price from $28.00 to $25.00.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Overweight to Neutral and raised their target price from $77.00 to $83.00. Pre-market: 81.65 -0.39 (-0.48%)

L-3 Communications (LLL): JPMorgan lowered their rating from Neutral to Underweight.

Coverage Initiated

Buckle (BKE): Ascendiant Capital Markets initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $40.00.

Fluor (FLR): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $65.00.

Foster Wheeler (FWLT): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $26.00.

Jacobs Engineering (JEC): Goldman Sachs resumed coverage with a Neutral rating and target price of $60.00.

Wet Seal (WTSL): Ascendiant Capital Markets initiated coverage with a Strong Buy rating and target price of $4.00.

Markets: 
Futures at 7:00: Dow +0.21%. S&P +0.34%. Nasdaq +0.33%. Crude +0.95% to $93.58. Gold +0.10% to $1577.50.

Europe: London +0.38%. Paris +0.60%. Frankfurt +0.26%. 

Asia: Japan +2.80% to 13193. Hong Kong -0.04% at 21718. China -0.62% to 2212. India -0.07% to 18438.