US STOCKS-Futures point to flat open despite some strong earnings
* S&P 500, Nasdaq coming off five-day advances
* Netflix (NasdaqGS: NFLX - news) jumps, results show strong subscriber growth
* Travelers and United Tech profits top expectations
* Futures up: Dow 6 pts, S&P 0.7 pt, Nasdaq 2.25 pts (Adds McDonald's results)
By Ryan Vlastelica
NEW YORK (Frankfurt: HX6.F - news) , April 22 (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 (Frankfurt: TOC.F - news) 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 were sharply higher on the day, rising 1.1 percent on the back of deal activity in the pharmaceutical space, including Novartis (Xetra: NOT.DE - news) both swapping assets with GlaxoSmithKline (Other OTC: GLAXF - news) 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 (NYSE: AGN - news) 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)
