COVID-19 has been absolutely brutal for countless people and businesses in the United States and around the world. U.S. gross domestic product saw its biggest pullback ever amid a coronavirus-induced government shutdown. With the economy locked down, the first read was that U.S. GDP declined by 32.9%. In fact, neither the Great Depression nor the Great Recession, or any other economic contraction, has been as great as what we have seen in the past few months.
It goes without saying that companies reporting earnings for this period saw sharp declines reflecting the broad economy, but there were actually some big winners.
As the economy has shifted as a result of the pandemic, different companies have seen outsized gains. However, there have been losers in the process as well. Many are dubbing this period the “Retail Apocalypse,” as many retailers were absolutely crushed during this time, while e-commerce was on the rise.
Some of the obvious winners from this pandemic are Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Apple’s App Store has capitalized on many bored consumers stuck at home buying new apps on their iPhones, while Amazon is shipping everything to everyone from its online marketplace.
24/7 Wall St. has included some of the other really big winners from the most recent earnings season. These companies have survived the pandemic and then some, and they have the fundamentals to prove it. We have included some highlights from the reports.
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) seems to be winning at the expense of Intel, at least that’s how the report came off at the end of July. The chipmaker posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.18 on revenues of $1.93 billion. Second-quarter results compare to the consensus estimate for EPS of $0.16 on $1.86 billion in revenues.
Looking ahead to the third quarter, AMD expects revenue of around $2.55 billion, plus or minus $100 million, an increase of approximately 32% sequentially and about 42% year over year. The increases are expected to be driven primarily by Ryzen and EPYC sales and next-generation semi-custom sales.
AMD stock last closed at $81.66, in a 52-week range of $27.43 to $87.29. The consensus price target is $75.33. Over the past quarter, this stock is up about 47%, or closer to 42% in the past month alone.
UPS
United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) reported its most recent quarterly results at the tail end of July as well. The package delivery service reported EPS of $2.13 on revenues of $20.5 billion. Analysts were calling for EPS of $1.07 and $17.5 billion in revenue.
Carol Tomé, the chief executive officer, attributed the blockbuster results to a surge in demand for residential service, health care shipments related to the COVID-19 pandemic and stronger demand for shipments from Asia.
UPS stock most recently closed at $159.99, in a 52-week range of $82.00 to $162.70. Analysts have a consensus price target of $145.04. Over the past quarter, this stock is up about 66%, including 35% in the past month alone.
Whirlpool
In late July, Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) reported its second-quarter results. Essentially, the appliance maker saw strength in its results because more people were looking to improve their homes during the pandemic. The firm reported $2.15 in EPS on revenues of $4.04 billion, while consensus estimates had called for $0.96 in EPS and $3.62 billion in revenue.
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