Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
JPMorgan Chase – The bank reported quarterly profit of $2.34 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $2.25 a share. Revenue also beat Street forecasts. A stronger consumer business helped negate weaker results in trading operations.
Citigroup – Citi earned $1.73 per share for the third quarter, four cents above estimates. Revenue did miss forecasts, but the bank’s bottom line benefited from lower expenses.
Wells Fargo – Wells Fargo fell a penny shy of estimates with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.16 per share, while the bank’s revenue did come in above forecast. Wells Fargo also said it was making progress in rebuilding customer trust.
PNC Financial – PNC topped estimates by 10 cents a share, with quarterly profit of $2.82. Revenue for the banking company also came in above analysts’ forecasts. Results were helped by higher interest income and a drop in provisions for credit losses.
Microsoft – Macquarie upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “neutral,” noting the pullback of the past two sessions and Microsoft’s ongoing earnings power.
Estee Lauder – The cosmetics maker was downgraded to “neutral” from “overweight” at JPMorgan Chase, which is concerned about the impact of the US trade dispute with China on Estee Lauder’s business.
Intel – Intel has reduced its stake in supplier ASML to just below three percent. Intel had originally bought a stake in 2012, along with two other semiconductor companies, to help fund ASML’s next-generation lithography systems.
Tesla – Tesla said orders for its electric vehicles placed by October 15 will still be eligible for a full $7,500 tax credit. The credit begins to reduce at the conclusion of the quarter after the three-month period in which an alternative fuel carmaker sells 200,000 vehicles.
AbbVie – The drugmaker resolved a patent dispute with Sandoz over its best-selling Humira drug. Sandoz is the generic drug unit of Switzerland’s Novartis. Sandoz will receive a license to sell Humira in most EU countries.
Netflix – Netflix was upgraded to “buy” from “neutral” at Citi, which said this week’s sell-off has pushed the stock down to attractive levels considering its strong fundamentals and highly recurring subscription revenue.
NiSource – NiSource affiliate Columbia Gas was blamed for a recent deadly Massachusetts gas explosion. The National Transportation Safety Board said Columbia did not require repair crews to relocate pressure sensors while doing work on natural gas pipelines.
Public Storage – The self-storage company’s European affiliate Shurgard priced its initial public offering in Europe at the bottom end of the projected price range. Shurgard is Europe’s largest self-storage provider and is 49 percent owned by US-based Public Storage.
RH – The furniture and household goods retailer was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Stifel Nicolaus, which points to valuation as well as increased brand strength for the Restoration Hardware parent.
Snap, Twitter – Snap was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” and Twitter was upgraded to “hold” from “sell” at Pivotal Research, with both calls partly based on stock price drops over the past two days. Pivotal notes that the Snapchat parent does have a widening user base and that the company can improve monetization.
3M – Credit Suisse initiated coverage of the diversified products manufacturer with an “outperform” rating, citing a strong balance sheet and stable global industrial production growth, among other factors.
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