In morning trading on Friday, the Dow Jones industrials were up 1.34%, the S&P 500 up 1.5% and the Nasdaq 1.77% 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 4.7% just ahead of the noon hour Friday.
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Block also reported earnings per share (EPS) and revenue that beat consensus estimates. Yet, the stock traded down about 0.3%.
Before markets opened on Friday, AMC reported a smaller-than-expected loss per share on better-than-expected revenue. The stock traded up 0.3%.
Enbridge beat the consensus EPS estimate by a penny but missed on revenue. Shares traded up 1.5%.
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 0.7% late Friday morning.
There are no earnings reports scheduled for release Friday afternoon. Before markets open on Monday, BioNTech and Tyson Foods will report quarterly results. Look for reports from Devon Energy, Lucid and Palantir later in the day.
These four companies are scheduled to report quarterly earnings first thing Tuesday morning.
24/7 Wall St.Duke Energy
Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) is the country’s third-largest regulated electricity provider, with a market cap of more than $76 billion. The company also sells electricity and natural gas at wholesale to local providers. Over the past 12 months, Duke’s share price has decreased by about 11%. Investors do not buy Duke stock for its short-term growth, although an increase of 19.3% over the past three years is better than Meta Platforms’ growth of 12.3% in the same period. Investors are most impressed by the company’s dividend yields, which Meta does not have.
Of 17 brokers covering the company, seven have a Buy or Strong Buy rating, and the other 11 have Hold ratings. At a recent price of around $98.50 a share, the potential upside to the median price target of $108.00 is 9.6%. At the high target of $120.00, upside potential is about 21.8%.
Analysts expect Duke to report EPS of $1.26, which would be up 13.7% sequentially but down 3.1% year over year, on sales of $6.26 billion, down 14.7% sequentially and 7.2% lower year over year For the full year, analysts are looking for EPS of $5.63, up 6.9% year over year, on sales of $27.74 billion, down 3.6%.
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Duke’s stock trades at 17.5 times expected 2023 EPS, 16.4 times estimated 2024 earnings of $5.99 and 15.5 times estimated 2025 earnings of $6.34 per share. Its 52-week trading range is $83.76 to $114.50. Duke pays an annualized dividend of $4.02 (yield of 4.13%). Total shareholder return for the past year was negative 7.38%.
Fox
Media giant Fox Corp. (NASDAQ: FOXA) has seen its share price sink by more than 14% over the past 12 months. First-quarter results pit two opposing forces that influenced Fox’s performance: on the plus side, the Super Bowl broadcast generated around $600 million in ad revenue; on the minus side, the defenestration of Tucker Carlson sent shares down by about $800 million. Then there was the $787.5 million payment to a defamation lawsuit. The conference call should be lots of fun.
Analysts are getting more cautious on the stock. Of 23 brokerages covering the firm, eight have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and 13 say the stock is a Hold. At a share price of around $31.70, the upside potential based on a median price target of $36.00 is about 13.6%. At the high target of $44.00, the upside potential is 38.8%.
Fiscal third-quarter revenue is forecast at $4.03 billion, down 12.4% sequentially but up 16.5% year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast at $0.88, up 82.4% sequentially and by 8.6% year over year. For the 2023 fiscal year ending in June, analysts expect Fox to report EPS of $3.37, up 21%, on sales of $14.89 billion, up 6.6%.
Fox stock trades at 9.0 times expected 2023 earnings, 9.6 times estimated 2024 earnings of $3.16 per share and 7.9 times estimated 2025 earnings of $3.85 per share. Its 52-week range is $28.02 to $37.26. Fox pays an annual dividend of $0.50 (yield of 1.53%). Total shareholder return for the past year was negative 13.43%.
24/7 Wall St.Fisker
Since its SPAC IPO in October 2020, shares of luxury electric vehicle (EV) maker Fisker Inc. (NYSE: FSR) have dropped by about 41%. Over the past 12 months, the stock has lost about 43%. Shares have not traded above the IPO price since last August. The first Fisker Ocean was delivered to a buyer in Denmark on Friday. Earlier this week, the company announced that it will offer battery-swapping technology from Ample with its Ocean SUV model due out by the first quarter of 2024.
Of 12 analysts covering Fisker, just four have a Buy rating. Another five rate the stock at Hold, while three have a Sell or Strong Sell rating. At a share price of around $6.30, the implied upside based on a median price target of $12.00 is about 90.5%. At the high target of $21.00, the implied gain is about 233%.
Analysts expect Fisker to post revenue of $1.02 million in the fourth quarter, up from $40,000 in the year-ago quarter and $10,000 in the prior quarter. The per-share loss is forecast at $0.42, better than the loss per share of $0.47 in both the prior and year-ago quarters. For the full 2022 fiscal year, revenue is forecast at $950,000, up from $110,000 last year. Analysts expect the company to post a loss per share of $1.61, worse than last year’s loss of $1.14.
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Analysts expect Fisker to post revenue of $2.52 million in the first quarter and $2.10 billion for the full 2023 fiscal year. The expected loss per share for the quarter is $0.29, and for the year, $0.74.
Fisker is not expected to post a profit in 2023 or 2024. Based on a 2025 EPS estimate of $0.76, the price-to-earnings multiple is 7.9. The stock’s 52-week range is $4.26 to $11.59. Fisker does not pay a dividend, and the total shareholder return for the past year was negative 39.49%.
Nikola
Over the past 12 months, electric and hydrogen-powered truck maker Nikola Corp. (NASDAQ: NKLA) has seen its share price plummet by nearly 87%. The company set an all-time low in late April for its three-year public life.
The company made a couple of product announcements this week. WattEV, a developer of charging infrastructure for and a lessor of heavy trucks, has agreed to buy 14 of Nikola’s Tre electric trucks. AJP Trucking, a long-time USPS mail carrier, has ordered 50 of Nikola’s fuel cell heavy trucks. In March, Nikola reached a minor milestone: it had reached total truck sales of 100 vehicles.
Just eight analysts cover the stock, and seven of those have a Hold rating. The other one rates the stock at Buy. At a share price of around $1.00, the upside potential based on a median price target of $3.00 is 200%. At the high price target of $5.00, the implied gain is 500%. Note that institutional ownership of the stock has fallen from around 43% of the float in February to around 28.6% currently. Average daily trading volume in the shares has risen by about 50% to around 18 million.
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