The first quarter of 2018 hasn’t seen any positive excitement until the earnings deluge, which has been characterized by a series of surprises and expectation-beating earnings reports that make the hesitant want to get back in this game.
Here are 10 you should be looking at right now:
#1 Amazon (AMZN)
Amazon has to come first because it’s earnings report released yesterday was a blockbuster, and shares responded explosively--which just goes to show that Trump tweets aren’t everything. It’s not only weathering the attack, it’s getting stronger.
Amazon hit $51.04 billion in revenue, beating Thomson Reuters’ expectations of $49.78 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) were $3.27, so far above the $1.26 estimates that share prices had no choice but to respond with a buying spree. The Amazon cloud program stole the show, recording revenue of $5.44 billion, against $5.25 billion expected.
Shares spiked almost 7 percent in after-hours trading yesterday. By 9:43a.m. EST, they looked like this:
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Shares were up almost 7 percent in after-hours trading, according to CNBC. Amazon executives will discuss the results on a conference call later this afternoon. We’ll be looking out for any other standout news.
#2 PayPal (PYPL)
The mobile payments giant exceeded expectations, with the icing on this cake being the forecast for June quarter sales—also above estimates. Adjusted Q1 earnings were 57 cents per share, up 29 percent from a year ago. Revenue was up 24 percent to $3.69 billion. This compares to last year’s earnings of 44 cents a share on sales of $2.98 billion.
The news flow is working in PayPal’s favor unlike earlier this year, when a sell-off was prompted by eBay’s decision to move its payment processing to a Europe-based company by 2020. Since then, it’s become clear that PayPal is going to greatly benefit from the push to dominate the international payments industry. A new partnership with Barclays starts this game off with a bang.
This is what share prices look like in the aftermath:
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#3 Intel Corp. (INTC)
Intel rallied over 3 percent in regular trading hours yesterday, and then 8 percent after hours on stellar earnings and stronger-than-expected sales to data centers, revenue for which surged 24 percent. Net income came in at $4.45 billion, up from $2.96 billion a year ago. Adjusted earnings were a whopping 93 cents a share, against expectations of 65-77 cents a share. Revenue came in at $16.07 billion, up from $14.8 billion and beating Wall Street expectations of $15.07 billion. After a really tough quarter, the semiconductor/chipmaker industry outlook is looking a lot better. Related: Pump And Dump Schemes Take Over Crypto Markets
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#4 Microsoft (MSFT)
For the quarter, shareholders should be exceedingly happy with the payback from Microsoft, with income a massive $7.4 billion, up from $5.5 billion, and diluted earnings per share at 95 cents, beating expectations of 85 cents.
Revenue increased to $26.8 billion from $23.2 billion, and operating income was up 23 percent to $8.3 billion. The cloud business was the brightest spot on the Microsoft earnings roar, with Azure growing an amazing 93 percent.
and shareholders have been rewarded duly: Microsoft gave $6.3 billion in dividends to shareholders in the quarter—a 37-percent increase.
After-hours trading yesterday might not have done much for share prices, but investors warmed up to the stock in the pre-market.
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#5 Facebook (FB)
The highly beleaguered social media giant wasn’t left out of the stellar earnings series, either. Facebooks shares suggest it’s clawing its way out of the deep pit of scandal and demonstrating that businesses are ready to abandon its lucrative advertising platform—even when it’s under so much privacy and abuse scrutiny.
Earnings and revenues busted past analyst expectations, with adjusted EPS clocking in at $1.69, compared to Thomson Reuters estimates of $1.35. Revenue was $11.97 billion, against estimates of $11.4 billion. Daily and monthly active user numbers were as expected.
The key to the earnings win was growth in the ad revenue from mobile, which make Facebook more profitable. Over 90 percent of Facebook’s ad revenue came from mobile in Q1.
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#6 ConocoPhillips (COP)
COP blew past analyst estimates, with the general sentiment being that this company stands out in the industry because it’s paying shareholders back. Production came in above company expectations, hitting 1.224 million barrels of oil equivalent—4 percent higher than a year ago, accounting for asset sales. COP earned 96 cents per share, compared with an adjusted loss in the same quarter last year of 14 cents per share. And it’s still planning to buyback $2 billion in shares this year …
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#7 Chevron (CVX)
And … we’re back. Chevron missed analyst expectations in Q4 2017, but not this time around. Earnings were $1.90 per share, against Thomson Reuters forecasts of $1.48.
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#8 Baidu Inc. (BIDU)
This Chinese internet giant saw Q1 net income at $1.1 billion ($2.98/share) on $3.3 billion in revenue (up from $2.45 billion a year ago). Adjusted earnings were $2.60 per share, wildly beating expectations of $1.66. Related: The Amazon Effect On Housing Markets
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#9 Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
AMD has had a tough time convincing investors that it’s playing in the big league, but finally—a strong quarterly performance. Revenue rose 23 percent sequentially, largely driven by a big uptick in shipments of its new Ryzen PC CPUs, for which it also just launched a second-gen version.
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#10 Chipotle (CMG)
Another surprise came from Chipotle Mexican Grill, which reported a surprise 33-percent gain in EPS. Analysts were expecting a loss here, and the stock responded in kind to the surprise, with most thanking a new CEO for the turnaround.
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By Tom Kool for Safehaven.com
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