  another large group of earnings announcements as major indices test new highs   insights into the fed from october’s beige book   value stocks look to turn the tables on growth stocks stock futures are slightly lower as another large group of companies report earnings on thursday starting with a surprise from att t the company is trading higher in premarket trading after beating on earnings despite missing on revenue att saw growth over the last quarter with strength in hbo wireless subscriptions and postpaid and prepaid phones unilever ul demonstrated pricing power by raising prices on its products by 41 in the third quarter and delivered betterthanexpected revenues the ability for a company to pass on its higher costs to consumers can be difficult but unilever was able to do it however the company warned that it expects to see higher inflation next year whether or not the company can continue to pass on these costs is unknown copper miner freeportmcmoran fcx is trading 182 lower after reporting disappointing revenues despite beating on earnings estimates the company has benefited from a nearly 50 increase in copper prices on wednesday bloomberg reported that paypal pypl is in talks to acquire social media company pinterest pins paypal’s stock price fell nearly 5 on the news however pinterest rose 1277 after being briefly halted due the quick rally on thursday paypal will report its third quarter earnings after the close more earnings announcement will come in for companies like intel intc chipotle cmg and whirlpool whr these companies could provide additional insights as to how various parts of the economy are handling supply chain issues additionally whirlpool is seen by some investors as insight into the housing market after wednesday’s close automaker and technology company tesla tsla reported betterthanexpected earnings but the news didn’t really seem to surprise investors earlier this month the company had already reported that it had made record deliveries in the third quarter tesla also reiterated its previous forward guidance to achieve 50 average annual growth in vehicle deliveries over the next few years tesla is trading lower before the open despite analysts raising price targets across the board some may say big blue ain’t what she used to be ibm ibm gave a negative surprise to investors by missing its earnings and revenue estimates the company’s managed infrastructure business struggled because of declining orders the infrastructure business is slated to be part of a spinoff next month the company also saw losses in its cloud business the stock was down more than 46 in afterhours trading overall the markets did rise on wednesday and the dow jones industrial average dji and sp 500 spx tested their alltime highs as large and megacap companies continue to garner attention from investors travelers trv amgen amgn and cocacola ko helped drive the dow jones higher so far 81 companies of the sp 500 have reported earnings and 80 of them have beat the more capitalizationdiverse nasdaq composite comp gids remained relatively flat oil futures cl are also testing old highs the october contract expired last night at a 14year high outside earnings news some important economic data is coming through initial jobless claims came in better than expected with fewer people filing claims last week however the philadelphia fed manufacturing index missed analysts’ expectations and is reading about half of its march high the september existing home sales will report after the open these reports offer insights into various parts of the economy a broader economic picture was given in a report on wednesday the summary of commentary on current economic conditions better known as the beige book was released by the us federal reserve this report is published eight times a year and provides anecdotal information on current economic conditions in each of the fed’s 12 districts the beige book report doesn’t usually move the markets but it and the fomc meeting minutes are helpful when it comes to understanding what fed members are seeing in relation to the economy inflation and interest rates the october beige book reported moderate economic growth employment also grew at a modest pace despite high demand for labor according to the report labor shortages are being caused by childcare issues and vaccine mandates however many workers also left for other jobs or chose to retire while most districts remain positive about their respective economic futures concerns around labor inflation and supply chain bottlenecks are reducing optimism most districts reported significantly higher prices for goods and raw materials and problems in getting supplies and products through supply chain bottlenecks while there isn’t much new in the report for people who consistently follow the financial news it does show that policymakers are seeing similar issues and are aware of these difficulties there’s also little in the report that would suggest the fed would divert from its november tapering plans a look back using the comparison indicator on the thinkorswim platform the sp 500 pure growth index sp500pg has outperformed both the sp 500 pure value index sp500pv and the regular sp 500 spx index over the past 10 years with returns of 332 to 226 to 174 respectively on a fiveyear comparison the ranks are the same with returns of 168 136 and 75 if value is to assume leadership it may require a fundamental shift in the market interest rates could be that fundamental shift as i’ve noted before value stocks tend to perform better when interest rates are rising because of how a stock’s intrinsic value is calculated using discounted future cash flows the fed has pushed interest rates lower over the last decade through the overnight right and open market purchases the lower interest rates have helped growth stocks perform well the recent turn to an inflationary economy makes it harder for the fed to keep rates low this means value stocks could get that fundamental shift that value investors are looking for however if inflation is transitory as the fed hopes then value’s time out in front could be short lived great value generally speaking there are three primary ratios used to identify potential value stocks they include the book valuetoprice ratio the pricetoearnings ratio and the pricetosales ratio value investors often use these ratios by looking for the lowest ratio compared to the stock’s industry group in addition to these ratios value investors tend to calculate a stock’s intrinsic value using the discounted cash flows formula i mentioned earlier value investing can take some work but investors like warren buffett and his mentor benjamin graham are well known for this investing approach value views investors wanting to get started in value investing may want to check out the schwab sector views this monthly article breaks down various aspects of the stock market monitoring different market sectors for strength and calls out sectors that are demonstrating value traits additionally td ameritrade’s stocks fundamental analysis course is free to all td ameritrade clients the online course helps investors uncover more ways to identify value stocks using topdown and bottomup approaches