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Why Natus Medical, Grubhub, and Corning Jumped Today

Major benchmarks turned positive late Wednesday following reports that President Trump has received concessions from the EU to avoid a trade war.

But several individual stocks stood out among today's gainers, including Natus Medical (NASDAQ: BABY), Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB), and Corning (NYSE: GLW). Here's why investors are celebrating their quarterly earnings reports.

Man in white shirt and tie pointing up in front of a wooden chart indicating gains
Man in white shirt and tie pointing up in front of a wooden chart indicating gains

Image source: Getty Images.

Natus Medical nurtures a solid quarter

Shares of Natus Medical popped 6.5% after the newborn-centric healthcare products and services company delivered better-than-expected second-quarter results.

Natus' quarterly revenue climbed 7% year over year to $130.7 million, which translated to 3.6% growth in adjusted earnings to $11.6 million, or $0.35 per share. By comparison, management's own guidance called for significantly lower earnings per share in the range of $0.25 to $0.27, and revenue of $129 million to $131 million.

CEO Jonathan Kennedy credited his company's stronger margins to a 2% increase in organic revenue from the neuro business, its profitable newborn-care segment, and its progress with the ongoing integration of Natus' $145 million acquisition of Otemetrics.

Curiously, Natus also lowered its full-year 2018 guidance to call for revenue of $525 million to $535 million (down from $535 million to $540 million previously), and adjusted earnings per share of $1.50 to $1.60 (down from $1.60 to $1.65 before). Management blamed the "effects of potentially shifting seasonality and global trade uncertainty," and investors seemed more than willing to forgive the reductions in turn.

Grubhub's delicious quarter

Grubhub stock soared 23.5% following the food-delivery specialist's announcement of strong second-quarter results. Revenue skyrocketed 51% to $240 million, helped by a 70% increase in active diners to 15.6 million, and 29% growth in gross food sales to $1.2 billion. GrubHub's adjusted net income nearly doubled to $46.3 million, or $0.50 per share. Both the top and bottom lines easily beat consensus estimates for earnings of $0.42 per share on revenue of $233 million.

Founding CEO Matt Maloney called it a "standout quarter," citing a record number of new users who tried the platform for the first time.

"We generated robust order growth, while continuing our rapid delivery expansion and adding thousands of high quality new restaurant partners," he added.

Grubhub also announced it has agreed to acquire mobile diner engagement and payment solutions company LevelUp for $390 million, a move that will help Grubhub add online demand generation and fulfillment services.

For the full year, Grubhub sees revenue in the range of $966 million to $983 million -- well above estimates for $960 million.

Corning's strength is clear

Finally, shares of Corning gained 11.3% in the wake of the glass technology leader's Q2 results trouncing Wall Street's estimates. Quarterly core sales grew 9.8% year over year to $2.76 billion, which led to a more-than-20% increase in core earnings to $359 million, or $0.38 per share. Most analysts would have settled for earnings of $0.37 per share on revenue of $2.69 billion.

CFO Tony Tripeny stated that each of Corning's core businesses either met or exceeded expectations. Their relative strength also gave management the confidence to boost full-year revenue guidance by $300 million to $11.3 billion, or growth of 10% from 2017. CEO Wendell Weeks also predicted that Corning is poised to "significantly improve profitability in the third quarter and beyond."

More From The Motley Fool

Steve Symington has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Natus Medical. The Motley Fool recommends Corning. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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