It has been about a month since the last earnings report for St. Joe (JOE). Shares have added about 7.6% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.
Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is St. Joe due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.
St. Joe Posts Loss in Q4, Witnesses Fall in Revenues
St. Joe reported a fourth-quarter 2018 net loss of $0.1 million or $0.00 per share compared with net income of $38.5 million, or 58 cents per share in the comparable period last year.
The reported quarter’s results include around $1.4 million in net expenses associated with Hurricane Michael that affected the area on Oct 10, 2018. Also the fourth-quarter 2018 results include around $3.7 million unrealized loss on the company’s preferred investments due to market volatility in December 2018.
Meanwhile, the year-ago quarter results included a net gain of $9.8 million resulting from the sale of its short-term vacation rental management business. Also, results included a one-time credit of $33.5 million to re-measure the company’s net deferred tax liability.
Total revenues for the quarter came in at $16.3 million, down 25.2% from $21.8 million recorded a year ago. Results reflect decline in revenues in real estate, hospitality, leasing and timber segments. However, the company’s total expenses for the quarter declined 24.8% from the prior-year quarter to $17.6 million.
Behind the Headline Numbers
In the fourth quarter, real-estate revenues came in at $6.1 million, down from the prior year’s $8.3 million, while Hospitality revenues fell to $6.7 million, down from $8.6 million in the year-ago period.
Leasing revenues came in at $3.2 million, slightly down from $3.5 million in the prior-year quarter, while timber revenues of $0.3 million declined from $1.4 million reported in the year-ago quarter.
Notably, as of Dec 31, 2018, the company owned a portfolio of approximately 812,630 square feet of rentable commercial space which was 93% leased. This compared to ownership of 813,602 square feet of rentable commercial space by the company which was 87% leased as of Dec 31, 2017. Moreover, in 2018, a total of 202 home sites were sold as compared with 174 in 2017.
Liquidity
St. Joe exited 2018 with cash, cash equivalents and investments of $240.3 million as of Dec 31, 2018, as compared to $303.4 million as of Dec 31, 2017.
Additionally, during 2018, the repurchased 5,238,566 shares of its common stock for $93.4 million, denoting approximately 8% of the company’s outstanding common stock. Following the quarter end, the company bought back an additional 471,500 shares of its common stock for $7.1 million. St. Joe has around $35.8 million in remaining repurchase authorization under its stock-repurchase program.
How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?
Analysts were quiet during the last two month period as none of them issued any earnings estimate revisions.
St. Joe Company (The) (JOE): Free Stock Analysis Report
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