Saturday, November 23, 2024

Understanding the markets this week: August 11, 2024

The mixed US reporting season continues

Last week’s earnings reports from major technology corporations didn’t paint a transparent picture for investors, and people mixed results continued this week.

US equity gains highlights

All figures below are in US dollars.

  • Airbnb (ABNB/NASDAQ): Earnings per share of $0.86 (versus the forecast of $0.92) and revenue of $2.75 billion (versus the forecast of $2.74 billion).
  • Reddit (RDDT/NASDAQ): Loss per share of 0.06 USD (versus the forecast of $0.33) and revenue of $281 million (versus the forecast of $254 million).
  • Disney (DIS/NYSE): Earnings per share of 1,39 € (versus a forecast of $1.19) and revenue of $23.16 billion (versus a forecast of $23.07 billion).

Airbnb’s quarterly earnings call was perhaps probably the most notable. After the corporate announced it missed earnings expectations, shares fell 14% in after-hours trading Tuesday night. Management cited slowing demand from U.S. customers because the important reason for the lower earnings, but was quick to indicate that revenue was still up 11% yr over yr and that Asia-Pacific and Latin America were the leading growth markets.

Despite Wednesday’s strong results, Disney shares fell 4% as investors appear hesitant to get back into the stock. The big highlight of the quarter was Disney’s combined streaming platforms turning a profit for the primary time, with the mix of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ posting an operating profit of $47 million.

This is after all a superb comparison to a lack of greater than half a billion within the last quarter. Disney announced that streaming price increases are on the best way

“We’re seeing an increase in consumption and popularity of our offerings, which is giving us the price advantage that we believe we have.” He added: “I’m very optimistic about the future of this business. We’re not saying much more about it other than you can expect it to grow well in fiscal 2025.”

—Bob Iger, CEO, Disney

The Disney Parks and Experiences Division reported a 6% decrease in operating profit on the U.S. parks, but a rise of two% on the international parks.

“We’ve seen a slight slowdown in demand, I certainly wouldn’t call it a significant change. I would just call it a slight slowdown that’s more than offset by the entertainment business.”

—Hugh Johnston, CFO Disney

Apparently, the market perceived the falling profits as a “significant change” greater than Disney management did.

Reddit continues to indicate signs of potential profitability, as the corporate’s net loss narrowed to $10.1 million from $41.1 million within the second quarter of last yr. Revenue increased 54% year-over-year, and internet marketing sales proceed to rise after declining in 2022. Despite this excellent news, Reddit shares have fallen greater than 20% up to now five trading days. They are still barely down year-to-date.

Read: Disney earnings: Results show profit, stock falls 2%

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