The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Facebook, Microsoft, Tesla, Qualcomm And Visa

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – January 31, 2019 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) , Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) , Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) , Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Visa (NYSE:V) .

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

Big Afternoon for Q4 Earnings: FB, MSFT, TSLA, QCOM & V

A big day for regular trading today, in what appears to be a sort of “good news sandwich” — strong Boeing (NYSE:BA) earnings results started the day, Fed Chair Jay Powell struck a new chord regarding potential future interest rate hikes during regular trading, and earnings beats from Facebook and Microsoft after the bell. As a result, we see a strong session for bullishness, with the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all up at least 1.5%.

Facebook posted the biggest beat in the after-market today, putting up $2.38 per share compared with the Zacks consensus $2.17, on revenues of $16.37 billion versus the $16.37 billion expected. This marks 65% adjusted EPS growth, and up 30% quarter over quarter on sales. We see shares push up more than 7% in the immediate aftermath of the earnings report.

Daily Active Users (DAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU) were in-line with expectations: 1.52 billion and 2.32 billion, respectively. Average revenue per user was up to a whopping $7.37, up 19% on strength in U.S. and Canadian markets. This is the fourth earnings beat for Facebook in the past five quarters. For more on FB’s earnings, click here.

Microsoft also topped expectations in its fiscal Q2 report, albeit more modestly: $1.10 per share beat by a penny, on $32.47 billion in sales which edged out the $32.45 billion in the Zacks consensus. Highlights include Azure growth +76% year over year, and Office 365 Commercial Revenue Growth +34%. It’s cloud business rose 20% to $9.4 billion for the quarter. The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company has not missed bottom-line estimates for three full years. For more on MSFT’s earnings, click here.

Tesla, on the other hand, posted mixed results for its quarterly report: $1.93 per share missed the $2.08 analysts were looking for, though revenues of $7.23 billion outperformed expectations of $7.14 billion. The company’s cash on hand has improved to $3.7 billion, better than expected, though Model 3 deliveries — as well as total production overall — for 2019 are lower than earlier projected, to a range of 360K-400K vehicles.

Qualcomm was also mixed for its Q4 results, surpassing bottom-line estimates — $1.20 per share as opposed to $1.08 expected — on $4.82 billion, which came in under the $4.88 billion in the Zacks consensus. Qualcomm has not missed earnings estimates at any time for the past five years, and guidance for quarterly revenue in Q1 2019 is between $4.4 billion - $5.2 billion, right in-line with estimates.

And Visa also impressed investors with beats on both top and bottom line for its fiscal Q1 report: $1.30 per share outperformed by a solid nickel, while revenues came in at $5.51 billion, notably above the $5.40 billion we had expected. Payment volume in the quarter grew 11%, and the credit card giant also announced a new $8.5 billion share buyback program. Visa has also not missed bottom-line projections in the last 5 full years.

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