Futures Fluctuate after Bank Earnings. Stocks to Watch: AAPL, CAM, ECA, GOOG, IR, MUR, PCP, TSLA, and TM

Published on Friday, 16 July 2010 08:48 Written by Christopher Lynn

New York, July 16^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Stock futures fluctuated after earnings from Bank of America, Citigroup, and General Electric disappointed investors.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), the nation’s largest lender, reported a better than expected profit per share of 27 cents on revenue of $29.45 billion. Shares fell in more than 4% in pre-market trading, as investors

General Electric (NYSE:GE), the diversified conglomerate, posted earnings of 30 cents a share from continuing operations in its second quarter, beating consensus by 3 cents per share, General Electric shares were lower in pre-market trading as revenue was weaker than expected.

On economic news, the Consumer price index fell to 0.1% in June, with core CPI up 0.2%. The fall of the CPI marks the third straight month of declines. At 9:55 am, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index for July will be out, with economists looking for a reading of 75.0.

Today’s stocks to watch: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Cameron (NYSE:CAM), EnCana (NYSE:ECA), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE:IR), Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR), Precision Castparts (NYSE:PCP), Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA), and Toyota Motors (NYSE:TM)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the maker of the iPhone and the iPad, is 0.5% higher in pre-market. Ahead of the company’s press conference to discuss the iPhone 4 antenna issues, Kaufman notes that they continue to believe that a full recall is not very likely, and that its supplier checks, indicate Apple working on both a hardware and software fix, which leads to believe a possible small scale exchange for some customers may be on the works. The analysts also note that antenna bad reception issue has impacted a small fraction of Apple’s customers, and that the media has been exaggerating the impact the issue has had with users and the company.

Cameron (NYSE:CAM), the oil and gas pressure equipment maker was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs, with the analysts adding the stock to Goldman’s Conviction Buy list.

EnCana (NYSE:ECA) fell more than 1.75% in pre-market trading, after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to a Sell from Neutral.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), the largest Internet search engine, was trading close to 4% down in pre-market trading following yesterday’s earnings miss.

Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE:IR), the maker of industrial air compressed systems, is traing more than 1.5% higher in pre-market after the company raised second quarter guidance. Ingersoll now sees earnings per share of $0.74-0.76, up from $0.62-0.72, versus consensus of $0.70, with revenues increasing about 7% to $3.7 billion. The company noted that it has leveraged the higher volumes with productivity improvements to significantly increase year-over-year operating margins and surpass the prior earnings forecast.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS), the owner and operator of casino resorts and convention centers in the U.S., Macau, and Singapore, was initiated with a Buy at Jefferies and a $30 target price. The analyst said that Las Vegas Sands offers the offers the strongest growth story in the sector, with Singapore opening and Macau expansions on track.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR), the oil and gas producer and refining company, was upgraded to a Buy from Neutral at Goldman. Murphy oil shares gained more than 0.5% in pre-market trading.

Precision Castparts (NYSE:PCP), the maker of complex metal components and products, was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. Shares jumped more than 3% in pre-market trading.

Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA), the electric car company, and Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM), the largest automaker in the world, formalized an agreement to develop an electric version of Toyota’s RAV4 small SUV. Tesla plans to produce and deliver a fleet of prototypes to Toyota for evaluation within this year. The first prototype has already been built and is now undergoing testing.