Investing

Earnings Previews: Robinhood, Twitter, Visa

Paul Ausick

Published: October 25, 2021 11:46 am

Only 14 companies in our watch list reported earnings before markets opened Monday. But the week ahead promises to be a busy one, with more than 900 firms reporting results.

This week gets off to a big start with these reports due after markets close Monday or before they open Tuesday morning: Facebook, GE, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and UPS.

Tuesday and Wednesday are loaded, too. Here is a look at three companies scheduled to report results after markets close Tuesday, but results from Alphabet, AMD and Microsoft are due at that time too.

Robinhood

After coming public in late July, shares of Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD) spiked to a gain of more than 100% in its first week of trading. Since then, investors have sliced out all but about 13% of the post-IPO gain. Those investors will be looking for two things after the results are published: user growth and how the company sees its regulatory regime shaping up under new SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who has made comments indicating a willingness to ban Robinhood’s primary source of revenue, payment for order flow (PFO) from market makers like Citadel.

Relatively few analysts cover the stock. Of 13 who do, seven have a Buy or Strong Buy rating on the shares, and another five rate the stock a Hold. At a recent price of around $38.80, the upside potential to the median price target of $55 is nearly 42%. At the high price target of $68, the upside potential is 75%.

For the fiscal third quarter, its first as a public company, revenue is forecast at $431.3 million. Analysts are looking for an adjusted loss per share of $1.36. For the full year, current consensus estimates call for an adjusted loss per share of $5.85 on revenue of $2.02 billion.

Robinhood is not expected to post a profit in 2021, 2022 or 2023. The current price-to-sales ratio is 19.76, and the enterprise value-to-EBITDA ratio is 103.45. The stock’s post-IPO range is $33.25 to $85.00. The company does not pay a dividend.

Twitter

Social media giant Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) saw its share price rise by 55% over the past 12 months. The less-good news is that happened in early March and about half that gain has been given back since then.
When Snap reported lower revenue last week and guided lower revenue for the current quarter, other social media sites were taken down as well. Ad revenue and guidance for ad sales in the current quarter are going to be the focus for Twitter investors. Analysts also will be looking for user growth and an increase in a user’s time spent on the site.

While analysts are bullish on the stock, they’re not wildly so. Of 39 brokerages rating the stock, just 10 rate the shares a Buy or Strong Buy, and 24 rate the stock a Hold. At a share price of around $62.30, the upside potential based on a median price target of $73 is 17%. At the high price target of $90, the upside potential is 44%.

For the third quarter, revenue is forecast at $1.28 billion, which would be up 7.7% sequentially and nearly 37% year over year. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) are forecast at $0.18, down 4.2% sequentially and down a penny year over year. For the full year, current consensus estimates call for EPS of $0.92, compared to last year’s loss per share of $0.87, on revenue of $5.09 billion, up 37%.

Twitter stock trades at 67.7 times expected 2021 EPS, 51.0 times estimated 2022 earnings and 38.0 times estimated 2023 earnings. The stock’s 52-week range is $38.93 to $80.75. The company does not pay a dividend.

24/7 Wall St.
5 Buy-Rated Blue Chips Are Raising Their Dividends This Week

Visa

This Dow Jones industrials component and credit card issuer also is reporting after markets close Tuesday. Over the past 12 months, the Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) stock price has appreciated by about 18%, but it has been sagging since late July, when it was up more than 27%. Retail expenditures are up 5.2% year over year, but October sales were flat month over month and week-over-week sales for the week ending October 10 were down more than 7%. How this slowing trend will affect holiday sales is an issue, not just for retailers but credit card companies like Visa, Mastercard and American Express, too.

Analysts are strongly bullish on Visa stock, with 31 of 35 brokerages rating the shares at Buy or Strong Buy. The other four have a Hold rating on the stock. At the price of around $232.80, the implied gain based on a median price target of $280 is about 20.3%. At the high price target of $312, the upside potential is more than 34%.

For Visa’s fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, revenue is forecast at $6.51 billion, up 6.2% sequentially and nearly 28% year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast at $1.54, up 3.1% sequentially and 37.5% year over year. For the full year, current consensus estimates call for EPS of $5.83, up 15.6%, on revenue of $21.85 billion, up 10%.

Visa stock trades at 40.0 times expected 2021 EPS, 32.1 times estimated 2022 earnings and 27.0 times estimated 2023 earnings. The stock’s 52-week range is $179.23 to $252.67. Visa pays an annual dividend of $1.28 (yield of 0.55%).