Stocks Opened Marginally Higher after Earnings

U.S. stocks opened marginally higher on Tuesday after companies posted mixed quarterly earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately advanced 11.68 points, or 0.06%, to 19,811.53. The S&P 500 gained 2.88 points, or 0.13%, to 2,268.08. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 11.93 points, or 0.21%, to 5,564.87.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Tuesday posted a 54 percent rise in third-quarter revenue, beating analyst estimates, helped by higher sales during its Single’s Day shopping event and increased earnings in its cloud and digital media ventures. Alibaba said overall third-quarter revenue hit 53.2 billion yuan ($7.76 billion).

Verizon Communication Inc. (VZ) reported fourth-quarter profit that was below Wall Street expectations. Net income for the quarter was $4.6 billion, or $1.10 per share, compared with $5.5 billion, or $1.32 per share, during the same quarter a year ago. Revenue in the quarter hit $32.3 billion, compared with $34.3 billion during the same quarter the previous year.

The Travelers Companies Inc. (TRV) reported fourth-quarter net income Tuesday of $943 million, or $3.28 per share, up from $866 million, or $2.83 per share, in the year-earlier period. It reported revenue of $7.19 billion, up from $6.68 billion in the year-earlier period.

3M Co. (MMM) said Tuesday it had net income of $1.155 billion, or $1.88 a share, in the fourth quarter, up from $1.038 billion, or $1.66 a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales edged up to $7.329 billion from $7.298 billion.

Johnson & Johnson posted revenue and profit increases, but the health-care giant released an underwhelming forecast for the year. It expects earnings for the year of $6.93 to $7.08 a share and revenue of $74.1 billion to $74.8 billion.