Earnings season is in full swing, and a number of disappointing reports pushed big-name stocks lower this week. Giants IBM (IBM 2.72%), Coca-Cola (KO 0.91%), and McDonald's (MCD 1.25%) were the Dow Jones Industrial Average's (^DJI 0.56%) biggest losers, but somehow the index squeaked out a small gain for the week. The Dow was up 15 points, or 0.1%, and the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.11%) gained 5 points, or 0.3% on the week.
IBM was the most disappointing stock after posting a big earnings miss. Revenue fell 5% to $24.75 billion, which was much worse than expectations. Earnings per share grew slightly to $3.33, but the consensus estimate was $3.61 and the stock fell 6.9% for the week. The stock fell 6.9%, and its heavy weighting on the Dow held the index back this week.
McDonald's fell 4.1% after reporting an earnings miss as well. Third-quarter same-store-sales growth of 1.4% in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa of 1.4% was disappointing and limited the company's overall growth. Earnings of $1.32 per share were $0.04 short of estimates.
Coca-Cola dropped 2.2% after reporting that third-quarter revenue that rose just 1% to $12.34 billion. The result was slightly worse than expectations. Coke continued a theme of weak results by multinational companies that were hit by the strong dollar. When the dollar rises, it makes international sales appear lower, and both revenue and income take a hit as a result.
There was also a strange event this week. Google (GOOG 0.41%) accidentally released earnings a few hours early on Thursday, sending the market into a panic. Results were much worse than expected, and the stock fell nearly 10% after the release.
