NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 07/23/12 -- The Standard & Poor's 500 Index recent rally have seen it reach a new two-month high. A string of better-than-estimated earnings and speculation that the poor economic data will force further stimulus from the Federal Reserve have pushed stocks higher. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) has gained over 3 percent in the last week. The Paragon Report examines investing opportunities in the S&P 500 Index and provides equity research on International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY).

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Recent data compiled by Bloomberg shows that out of the 99 S&P 500 companies who have reported quarterly results approximately 70 percent of them have exceeded analyst estimates. Data showed that analysts had projected second-quarter profits to decline by 2.1 percent.

"The theme coming out in earnings is companies are coming in short in revenue but still beat on earnings. Analysts have moved their targets (lower) and companies still are lean and mean and are able to generate profit," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital.

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IBM shares saw its biggest gain in nearly six months on strong earnings and as the company raised full year expectations. "Looking ahead, we are well positioned to deliver greater value to a wider range of clients and to our shareholders. Given our performance in the first half and our outlook for the second half, we are raising our full-year operating earnings per share expectations to at least $15.10."

Shares of eBay surged almost 9 percent Thursday after the company reported strong earnings for the second quarter of 2012. The company reported that revenue for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012 increased 23 percent to $3.4 billion, compared to the same period of 2011. "eBay had a great Q2 -- the best we've seen in years," said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe.

The Paragon Report has not been compensated by any of the above-mentioned publicly traded companies. Paragon Report is compensated by other third party organizations for advertising services. We act as an independent research portal and are aware that all investment entails inherent risks. Please view the full disclaimer at:

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