Investing

Earnings Previews: Devon Energy, Lucid, Palantir

Lucid Motors Inc.

In the first half-hour of Friday trading, the Dow Jones industrials were up 1.16%, the S&P 500 up 1.09% and the Nasdaq 1.11% higher.

After U.S. markets closed on Thursday, Apple beat analysts’ estimates on both the top and bottom lines, even though revenue was 2.5% lower than in the year-ago quarter. Mac sales fell by about $3.2 billion, accounting for more than all of the year-over-year decline. iPhone and iPad sales both came in higher than estimates. To top it all off, Apple increased its dividend by 4% and added a $90 billion share buyback. Shares traded up 4.5% in the early going Friday.

Block also reported earnings per share (EPS) and revenue that beat consensus estimates. Yet, the stock traded down about 2.1%.

Before markets opened on Friday, AMC reported a smaller-than-expected loss per share on better-than-expected revenue. The stock traded down about 3%.

Enbridge beat the consensus EPS estimate by a penny but missed on revenue. Shares traded up 1.7%.

Warner Bros. Discovery posted a steeper loss than analysts were expecting and also fell short on revenue. Ad sales for the company’s cable networks were down 15% year over year. Shares traded down 3.5% early Friday.

There are no earnings reports scheduled for release Friday afternoon. Before markets open on Monday, BioNTech and Tyson Foods will report quarterly results.

Here is a look at three companies set to report results later on Monday.

Devon Energy

Devon Energy Inc. (NYSE: DVN) is among the country’s 10 largest independent producers of oil and natural gas. The company has seen its share price drop by nearly 29% over the past 12 months, including a drop of almost a third in the past six months. Falling commodity prices have certainly hurt, but a bigger threat is a possible lowering of Devon’s massive dividend yield.

Analysts remain bullish on the stock, with 17 of 31 having a Buy or Strong Buy rating. Another 13 have Hold ratings. At a recent price of around $48.00 a share, the upside potential based on a median price target of $65.45 is 36.4%. At the high target of $87.00, the upside potential is 81.3%.


Consensus estimates call for fourth-quarter revenue of $3.82 billion, which would be down 11.2% sequentially and essentially flat year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast at $1.39, down 16.1% sequentially and by 26.1% year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, Devon is expected to post EPS of $6.58, down 20.8%, on revenue of $16.24 billion, down 15.3%.

Devon’s stock trades at 7.3 times expected 2023 EPS, 6.8 times estimated 2024 earnings of $7.10 and 7.2 times estimated 2025 earnings of $6.68 per share. Its 52-week trading range is $44.03 to $79.40. Devon pays an annualized dividend of $5.06 (yield of 10.32%). Total shareholder return for the past year was negative 22.96%.

Lucid

Electric vehicle (EV) maker Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ: LCID) has had a terrible year. The stock has lost about 64% of its value over the past 12 months, including an 8% increase to date in 2023. The company needs to sell more vehicles. Sales last year totaled around 4,400, compared to production of more than 7,000. Lucid originally planned to produce 22,000 cars last year, but supply chain constraints could not be overcome. That led to canceled orders. The good news is that a secondary offering in December added $1.5 billion to Lucid’s cash pile.

Of 11 analysts covering the stock, five have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and five more rate the shares at Hold. At a share price of around $7.40, the upside potential based on a median price target of $10.00 is 35.1%. Based on the high target of $16.00, the upside potential is 116%.

Analysts expect the company to report 2023 first-quarter revenue of $211.53 million, 17.9% lower sequentially but up from $57.67 million in the year-ago quarter. The consensus forecast calls for an adjusted loss of $0.41 per share, somewhat better than the prior quarter’s loss of $0.43 per share, and four cents worse than the loss in the year-ago quarter. For the full fiscal year, the loss per share is forecast at $1.44, down from last year’s loss of $2.25 per share, on sales of $1.36 billion, up nearly 125%.

Lucid is not expected to report a profit in 2023, 2024 or 2025. The enterprise value to sales multiple is expected to be 7.8 in 2023. Based on average estimated sales of $3.35 billion and $6.33 billion for 2024 and 2025, respectively, the multiple is 3.6 for 2024 and 1.9 for 2025. The stock’s 52-week range is $6.09 to $21.78. Lucid does not pay a dividend. Total shareholder return for the past year is negative 63.57%.

Palantir

Over the past 12 months, shares of Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE: PLTR) have declined by nearly 33%, including a 15% gain so far in 2023. But year-over-year revenue growth has slowed from 47% in 2021 to $24% last year, and a company forecast of just 14% to 17% for this year. Are macro trends or more competitors the issue? Is it spending too much? Likely all three, and investors will be interested in Palantir’s success in dealing with those headwinds.

Of 17 analysts covering the stock, just three have Buy ratings, while nine have a Hold rating. At a share price of around $7.40, the implied upside to the median price target of $8.00 is 8.1%. At the high price target of $15.00, the potential upside is more than 100%.


The consensus first-quarter revenue estimate is $505.94 million, down 0.5% sequentially but 13.3% higher year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast at $0.04, flat sequentially and up 50% year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, estimates call for EPS of $0.20, up 237.1%, on sales of $2.2 billion, up 15.6%.

The stock trades at 36.5 times expected 2023 EPS, 29.9 times estimated 2024 earnings of $0.25 and 24.0 times estimated 2025 earnings of $0.31 per share. Palantir stock’s 52-week range is $5.84 to $13.62, and the company does not pay a dividend. The total shareholder return for the past year is negative 32.79%.

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