It only comes four times per year… earnings season is here! Weak bank earnings kicked off the season, and we’re now officially in the thick of things. In fact, some would argue that we’re in the “most valuable time” of the season. 🤑
Yesterday, Microsoft and Google launched the “Big Tech” portion of the season. This week might score among the most important week of reports, since roughly a fourth of the S&P 500 and more than 40% of the Nasdaq-100 are reporting.
Today represented a kind of “hump day” for a healthy portion of BIG earnings. Facebook/Meta, PayPal, and Pinterest were just a few of the names at the heart of today’s conversation. ❤️
Unlike yesterday, they all delivered.
Facebook was most high in the eyes of investors, popping more than 18% after hours. That was in spite of a 21% drop in profits and its slowest quarterly revenue growth since IPO.
However, earnings are a game of expectations and the Meta gang generally exceeded them — earnings per share came in at $2.72 (vs. $2.56 expected), ARPU and DAUs beat analyst’s best guesses. Investors were willing to overlook small misses in revenue, which came in at $27.91 billion (vs. $28.2 billion expected), and MAUs.
Pinterest was also top of mind: its user count, unlike Meta’s, gained. The company has been losing users for the larger part of the last year, but Q1 saw some growth for the site. Pinterest posted earnings per share of $0.10 (vs. $0.04 expected). Revenue grew 18% YoY to $574 million, a small surprise. $PINS added 10.5% after hours.
Although it wasn’t the most impressive earnings of the day, PayPal found itself a 4% upside after hours today. Its earnings and revenue were just-about expected, sitting large and in-charge at $0.88 EPS and $6.48 billion. 💰
Other names such as Qualcomm (+6.8%) and T-Mobile US (+4%)had a good day, too. However, smaller tech companies such as Teladoc and Spotify represented the downside in tech. More on that below…