Verizon Communications Unfolds Earnings For 4QFY15

The last quarter's financial statements highlight the potential of the top telecommunication company.

On Thursday morning, January 21, 2016, Verizon Communications Inc. reported its earnings for the 4th and last quarter of 2015. The top telecommunication outperformed in the last quarter and met the Street’s expectations.

The company, which is headquartered in New Jersey, declared $0.88 earnings per share –0.01% more than the speculated amount and reported a 25% increase in EPS as compared to last year’s (4Q14: around 70 cents). The company’s Chairman and CEO, Lowell McAdam was confident on the company’s performance and said that the company has generated balanced result amidst the strong competition. Furthermore, the CEO said that the company looks forward to perform better in the coming year as it has attained and built next generation network capabilities that position the pioneer in the digital-first mobile world in 2016.

The US based company also surprised the analysts when it managed a net addition of 1.5 million customers in the last quarter. Moreover, the organization’s rate of customer’s attrition, or defection, fell down to 0.96% -significantly better as compared to last year’s 1.14%.

For the year quarter, the company reported revenue of $34.3 billion –a 3.2% increase as compared to the last year’s same quarter. In comparison with last year’s same quarter loss of $2.2 billion, the carrier generated a profit of $5.4 billion in the last quarter.

The New Jersey giant has expanded its horizon and invested in lot of different ventures in order to generate more revenue for the company. The organization has made an investment of $28 billion in spectrum licenses and capital for future network capacity. Moreover, the company spent $4 billion in acquisition of AOL Inc. in an attempt to create a digital advertising business.  

The top performing telecommunication company views the acquisition of AOL Inc. and Millennial Media as a prudent step that will strengthen company’s capabilities of developing and introducing high-tech applications to its customers. For example, last year, the company has launched a mobile video app with a name of “go90.” Also, it looks forward to develop technology platform for new machine-related businesses.

Because of the new incentives which the company is looking into, the company believes that the coming year  will be a tough one. Verizon’s CEO, Fran Shammo expressed his views and told the analysts that just like any new business which initially withstood losses and then gradually begins making profit, Verizon too will have a hard time in executing its new plans and strategies. He commented that he believes go90 will take a few years to generate higher returns for the company. Reportedly, the video app has managed to gain 2 million downloads since its launch in October but no official statement was given by Verizon to verify its active monthly users.

Without a doubt, the company has gone under a transformational change in 2015 and it is highly probable that in 2016 Verizon will be set out to the road of success.

The Verizon stock price stood at $45.87 –an increase of almost 3.3% at the marked which closed on Thursday.   

   

Bidness ETC - Novartis Stock Update For Current Quarter

Novartis stocks are estimated an earning per share of $1.12 for the current quarter.

Novartis AG is a prominent name in the world of healthcare providing health solutions globally. The company’s network is global having the status of a multinational firm whose expertise lies in marketing, research, manufacturing and development in a variety of medical products for healthcare purposes. The company has a diversified portfolio of products in services where it caters to medicines, animal health products, preventive vaccines, eye care, diagnostic tools, generic pharmaceuticals that are cost effective etc.

There are five core operating segments of the company: pharmaceuticals which comprises of patent protected medicine prescription, Alcon that deals with surgical, vision care products and ophthalmic pharmaceutical, diagnostic and vaccines that deals with blood testing procedures and human vaccine development, consumer health that provides over the counter medicines along with Animal Health.

The company in 2011 acquired a non controlling interest in Alcon which was again a major breakthrough for them.

Analysts at Wall Street expect that the first quarter earnings per share for Novartis stocks is estimated to be $1.12 for the current quarter. The digits have been derived from the average estimations made by the sell-side research organization dealing with the stocks. Recent NVS reported their earnings per share (EPS) which compounded to $1.33 for the first quarter of the fiscal year of 2015. This highlights that the digits are almost 0.21 where analysts estimate an 18.75 percent difference.

On an average, all the analysts who have kept eyes on Novartis stock price have estimated a price target of $108.166. this is said to be mean estimates of the three companies that are watching this stock closely. This is said to be the latest update in terms of Novartis stock price target.

In general the broker recommendation is basically an average taken of individual ratings that are provided by analysts allowing them to come up with Consensus Analyst Rating for each and every stock. Usually, there are ratings given for each stock from 1 to 5 where 1 means a strong BUY whereas 5 means a strong SELL.

Hence, Novartis at this point of time has 1.75 rating given by three sell-side analysts. A part of this group is a sell-side firm that expects a substantial upside on the stock price which is said to turn to $115 in a year’s time. The analyst who is conservative about the stock has given an estimated price target of $103.5 in a year’s time.

Novartis (NVS) stocks are currently extremely bullish and even those conservative about the stock have given a fairly good price target.

Bidness ETC - GoPro reported First Quarter Earnings Report for FY15

GoPro reported its Q1FY15 earnings on Tuesday and posted 24 cents in earnings per share while its revenue boosted due to increasing in overseas sales.

GoPro announced its first quarter fiscal year 2015 earnings report on Tuesday April 28. The company improved its revenue by over 50% due to massive international sales that account for almost 50% of the total sales by the company.

The Camera manufacturer reported $363.1 million in revenue up by 54% YoY. GoPro surpassed analyst’s estimation of $341 million of total sales, as per FactSet. The company reported earnings of $0.24 per share more than Wall Street forecast of $0.18 per share, as per the analysts polled by Reuters.

This is the fourth time in a row that the company was able to beat Wall Street expectations since its initial public offering in June last year.

Company’s profit increased by 52% and reached $16.8 million equals to $0.13 per share. That is still less from $122 million profit company reported in the last quarter on sales of $634 million. But that was due to the holiday season that sets record revenue and profits for the company.

GoPro said that over 50% of its total revenue came from overseas, with almost 66% of sales from Europe and Asia markets in the quarter.

The international growth is nothing new for the company while the sales in Asia and Europe market accounted for 70% in the previous quarter of FY14. Last year, GoPro worked on establishing its global infrastructure by introducing a facility of product assembly in Brazil and also formed European marketing and sales headquarters in Munich. GoPro also forged associations with Chinese e-commerce retailers like JD.com and Tmall in 2014.

In another announcement different from earnings report, the company said, it has decided to acquire Kolor, a company that focuses in 360-degree video and virtual reality. The financial numbers of the deal were not revealed.

Chief Executive Officer of GoPro, Nick Woodman said, “GoPro’s capture devices and Kolor’s software will combine to deliver exciting and highly accessible solutions for capturing, creating and sharing spherical content,” during earnings release, Mr. Woodman had already advertised GoPro investment “investments in talent, technology, software, and innovative new products” in a statement related to sustaining company’s growth.

During after hour trading session, GoPro’s stock price jumped around 7% after going up by 4% during the regular trading hour.

Bidness ETC - GoPro Inc. Earnings Preview for First Quarter FY15

GoPro Inc is all set to report its 1QFY15 earnings results on April 28. Specialty stores may have helped boost GoPro's sales in the March quarter because they may not have received adequate supply during the holidays.

GoPro Inc is ready to announce its first quarter fiscal year 2015 earnings report on Tuesday April 28 after market close. According to reports, the demand for cameras was more than company’s expectation during the quarter.

On April 22, in a report James Faucette, Yuuji Anderson and Meta Marshal analysts at Morgan Stanley retained their Equal-weight rating along with the stock price target of $57 on the company. Their estimation of 1.3 million units proposes a quarter-over-quarter decline of 50% in sell-through rates as the first quarter is always normally slow. However, according to their checks the sell-through rates might have only declined in the range of 30 to 40% in the 1QFY15.

The analysts also expect the company to perform better in the second quarter due to “the widening breadth of activity” at numerous retailers such as photography, skating and music stores. They stated that specialty retailers were not able to get enough stock in the holiday session and, therefore, are now witnessing high sell through rates.

In addition, the team of Morgan Stanley stated that it does not seem like as if the average selling price of GoPro Inc witnessed much of an issue. They also believe that the company will be able to surpass revenue guidance of $330 million to $340 million by the management of the company.

MS analysts retained their rating on company’s stock mainly because GoPro Inc needs to enhance its software platform. They also said that the company must come forward and take the charge of systematizing video editing and sharing via its own software platform.

Analysts at Stifel team expects the camera maker to post adjusted earnings of $0.17 per share as compared to the $0.18 a share consensus estimate on $343 million of revenue against $341 million of consensus. They also forecast minimum 1.4 million cameras shipment and nearly 10% decline in the normal selling price.

They also indicated that the company has been making heavy investments in new items. GoPro Inc. guided for general, selling & administrative expenditure of around $112.5 to $117.5 million for the quarter.

Consequently, the company will able to get more attention of the investors to its upcoming products, mainly the Hero5 cameras, which is expected to be launch later this year.

Bidness Etc - Toyota Announces Quarterly Earnings Reports

Toyoto Motors Corporation disclosed its 4Q earnings on Wednesday, 11th February, with the earnings per share (EPS) coming at $3.15 falling only $0.01 below expectation of the analysts who had predicted the EPS to be $3.16.
The car makers emerged with a price target of $130.85 for the day, with a 52 week high of $134.24 and low of $103.38.
Many financial analysts have analyzed the stock of the company. According to financial analysts at Jefferies Group, the price target on the company shares is $144.82 to $145.89, giving Toyota Motors a ‘buy’ rating. Analysts at Zacks gave a ‘neutral’ rating to the company’s shares, setting the company’s price target at $132.00.
Three financial firms have given Toyoto Motors the status of a ‘hold’ rating, while two equity analysts have confirmed its shares to be a ‘buy’ rating shares. One analyst has also given Toyoto Motors (NYSE:TM) the rating of a ‘strong buy’.
Two financial analysts firms have also given Toyota Motors shares to reach $153.66 in a period of just twelve months, while another equity analyst sees the company to reach a price target of $145.89 before the end of 2015.
Financial analysts who have analyzed the company’s position in the long term have are of the opinion that the company’s EPS for the present year is to be $12.52. The average growth of the EPS is expected to grow 7% in the next 4-5 years.
Toyota Motor‘s year-over-year earnings increased 16% according to Bloomberg.
The car makers recently launched its hydrogen fuel cell technology which was something the company’s opponents needed to worry about. The fuel technology has given the other car makers like Tesla a run for their money. Toyota is currently providing financial assistance to nineteen fuel stations in California and twelve in different cities like New Jersey, Rhode Island and New York. California has even guaranteed $200 million for the purpose of building 100 new fueling stations in the upcoming 10 years.
Toyota Motor is a Japanese company that deals in automobiles and financial business all over the world. The company has been divided into three main branches in which the automobile department deals with the manufacturing, designing and assembling of cars. It a;so deals with the manufacture of vehicles like sedans and trucks.
The financial department of the company deals with the finances of the company, giving financial advice to the company for the sale of its products.