Futures point to flat open despite some strong earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Tuesday as investors found few reasons to keep buying after a five-day rally in the S&P 500, despite strong results from a number of bellwether names.

* Netflix Inc surged 7.8 percent to $375.74 in premarket trading a day after results showed strong subscriber growth, a sign that the trading favorite still had room to grow despite concerns over its elevated valuation.

* Dow components Travelers Cos Inc and United Technologies Corp both reported first-quarter earnings that beat expectations, and United Tech raised the low end of its full-year profit outlook. Shares of Travelers rose 0.4 percent to $86.75 before the bell.

* The three were the latest prominent names to top forecasts, continuing a trend that last week helped lift the S&P 500 to its best week since July. McDonald's Corp reported earnings that fell alongside a drop in U.S. same-store sales, though the Dow component rose 0.9 percent to $100.60 before the bell.

* Dozens of S&P 500 components are slated to report this week. Of the 87 that had reported thus far, 62.1 percent have topped earnings expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data, compared with the 66 percent average over the past four quarters. On revenue, 51.7 percent have exceeded forecasts, below the 54 percent average over the past four quarters.

* S&P 500 companies' first-quarter earnings are projected to have increased 0.8 percent from a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed. The forecast is down sharply from the start of the year, when profit growth was estimated at 6.5 percent.

* S&P 500 futures rose 0.7 point and were slightly under fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 6 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 2.25 points.

* European shares <.FTEU3> were sharply higher on the day, rising 1.1 percent on the back of deal activity in the pharmaceutical space, including Novartis both swapping assets with GlaxoSmithKline and selling a unit to Eli Lilly & Co . U.S. shares of Glaxo rose 4 percent to $55.23 in premarket trading.

* In company news, Allergan Inc jumped 17.5 percent to $166.75 in premarket trading a day after activist investor William Ackman teamed up with Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc to make a joint bid for the company.

* General Motors Co filed a motion in a U.S. bankruptcy court to enforce a bar on lawsuits related to ignition defects in cars sold before its 2009 bankruptcy as it fights a class action lawsuit that seeks to set aside the restriction.

(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)

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