“This is the first time [the FOMC] actually really talked about rate cuts,” he told CNBC. Click the link below and we’ll send you MarketBeat’s guide to pot stock investing and which pot companies show the most promise. New Rank-Based ScoringMarketRank™ is calculated by averaging available category scores (with extra weight given to analysis and valuation), then ranking the company’s weighted average against that of other companies. It has lagged behind others on introducing consumer-facing generative artificial intelligence. Strong earnings growth and a surprise dividend draw cheers as Apple reveals its China struggles, but AI hopes are high.
- January’s core inflation — which strips out prices of food and energy — rose 2.5%, at a slower rate than 2.8% in the previous month.
- “Meta’s report allayed concerns around a 2024 deceleration … and also demonstrated sound capital allocation (new $50 billion share repurchase plan and quarterly dividend).
- Profit was $2.18 a share, ahead of the Wall Street consensus forecast of $2.11 a share.
- That compares to December’s blowout of 216,000 positions added and an unemployment rate of 3.7%.
- The S&P 500 is up 0.31% through Thursday and on pace for its fourth straight positive week.
The Seattle-based company turned in a blowout holiday season, posting the strongest online sales growth since the early days of the pandemic. The cloud computing division, meanwhile, has stabilized and executives say growth will accelerate this year as corporate customers resume their spending. Wall Street cheered, pushing the shares up about 8% in extended trading. Fourth-quarter earnings per share came in well above consensus forecasts, and first-quarter estimates for net sales and operating income also came in at the high end of the expected range.
Company
Meta Platforms stock rose sharply in late trading Thursday after the social media company gave a better-than-expected revenue forecast for its March quarter. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue https://traderoom.info/ of $119.6 billion, up 2% from a year ago, snapping a four-quarter string of revenue declines. Profit was $2.18 a share, ahead of the Wall Street consensus forecast of $2.11 a share.
Alphabet has resisted paying a dividend, preferring to return cash to holders via a large stock repurchase program. Barron’s has argued many times that tech giants like Meta and Alphabet can do both – buy back stock and pay dividends. Meta bought back $20 billion of its stock in 2023, and the dividend will cost it about $5 billion annually. Zuckerberg also said the company wouldn’t repeat prior mistakes of underinvesting in GPUs, noting that the firm didn’t have enough capacity for Reels during its early days. That would suggest iPhone revenue of $46.3 billion, and overall revenue of $89.8 billion; Wall Street estimates for the current quarter have been $49.7 billion for iPhone, and $95.6 billion overall.
Amazon.com (AMZN) Stock Price, News & Analysis
KeyBanc’s Justin Patterson raised his target price on the stock to $575 from $465 and maintained an Overweight rating on the shares. “Meta’s report allayed concerns around a 2024 deceleration … and also demonstrated sound capital allocation (new $50 billion share repurchase plan and quarterly dividend). Importantly, Meta’s investments in capex are also being met with clear returns, as evidenced by atypically strong first-quarter guidance,” Patterson wrote.
Profit margin
Ultimately, Hogan thinks that this year’s market rally is likely to continue, with Wednesday’s pullback to remain a blip on the radar. The move upward on Thursday indicates that investors are not only correcting Wednesday’s overreaction but are ultimately optimistic on the rate cut outlook, said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence said building sales momentum should help the e-commerce giant to Wall Street estimates when it reports earnings results. The boost is thanks to the October producer price index (PPI) coming in at 8%. The annual core PPI also came in at 6.7% year-over-year (YOY), much better than the prediction of 7.2%. According to Wallet Investor, AMZN one year forecast is $150, meaning the stock will trade for that amount in 2023.
Apple shares were 1.7% lower in after-hours trading following the report. The company noted that the latest quarter was 13 weeks, while the year ago period was 14 weeks. For investors, a dividend is increasingly seen as a sign of executive confidence in the business.
Gross margin was 45.9%, up from 43% in the year earlier quarter, and up 70 basis points sequentially. Meta said it would start paying a 50-cent quarterly dividend, which works out to a yield of less than 0.5% with Meta shares surging 13% to $447 in after-hours trading. The stock move reflects an earnings beat and the favorable reaction to the dividend. The results follow updates earlier in the week from Alphabet and Microsoft. Both companies delivered overall earnings beats; investors still sent the stocks lower. “There’s a resilient economy, confident consumer, better economic data than anticipated and the potential for earnings and revenue growth in 2024, which likely drives markets a bit higher,” he said.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the country’s PPI grew 0.9%, lower than the third quarter’s growth rate of 1.8%. Investors — and the Fed — will have another data point to mull over on Friday with the release of January’s jobs report. Economists polled by Dow Jones are calling for payrolls to have grown by 185,000 positions, and for the unemployment rate to inch higher to 3.8%. That compares to December’s blowout of 216,000 positions added and an unemployment rate of 3.7%. Meanwhile, better-than-expected earnings across the board have also warranted the market’s constructive reaction.
Apple shares are down in late trading Thursday after the company reported December-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates, with strength in iPhones, but lower than expected growth in services. Founded in 1993, The Motley Fool is a financial services company dedicated to making the world smarter, happier, and richer. The Motley Fool reaches millions of people every month through our premium investing solutions, free guidance and market analysis on Fool.com, top-rated podcasts, and non-profit The Motley Fool Foundation. Meta announced plans for its first-ever quarterly dividend while Apple reported a sales slowdown in its key China market on Thursday as three of the biggest tech stocks reported quarterly earnings on …
On a call with investors and analysts, Zuckerberg said he expects training and operating AI models will be “even more compute intensive” going forward, suggesting more GPU purchases will be required. “As we have been stressing for the past eight months, the revival in productivity is encouraging for the broader inflation and economic outlook,” said EY chief economist Gregory Daco. “If companies can generate strong productivity growth, they will be able to control costs and protect margins without sacrificing talent in an environment of still-elevated wages and fading pricing power.” S&P 500 futures rose on Friday morning as a trio of megacap tech titans reported results and investors looked ahead to the January jobs report.
Mac sales were $7.8 billion, about flat with a year ago, and a tad below consensus of $7.9 billion. IPad sales were $7 billion, down 25%, and below the Street’s $7.4 billion forecast. Wearables, home and accessories revenue was $12 billion, above consensus at $11.3 billion, but down 11% from a year ago. Seaport Research analyst Aaron Kessler raised his target price to $510 from $435.
Apple provided guidance for the March quarter that disappointed investors. US stocks climbed Thursday, recouping losses from the prior session’s sell-off following the Federal Reserve’s cautious messaging on rate cuts. The 30-stock Dow is up 1.08% as of Thursday’s close, pacing for its best week since Dec. 15. Drivers behind the blue-chip index’s gains include Merck and Amgen, both of which are up more than 4% for the week. January’s core inflation — which strips out prices of food and energy — rose 2.5%, at a slower rate than 2.8% in the previous month. Australia’s producer price index rose 4.1% year on year in the fourth quarter of 2023, accelerating from the 3.8% seen in the third quarter.
The S&P 500 is up 0.31% through Thursday and on pace for its fourth straight positive week. This was compared to the 3.2% recorded the previous month, and slightly lower than the 2.9% expected by a Reuters poll. © 2024 fx choice review Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided ‘as-is’ and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed.
