US FINANCIAL MARKET

Stocks Rise on Services Data, Earnings – Wall Street Journal, 8/3/2022

• U.S. stocks rose Wednesday as investors considered another wave of corporate earnings reports and after a key reading on the services sector hit a three-month high.
• The S&P 500 rose 1.1%, recouping losses after it fell Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.9%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.8%.
• Stocks had come under renewed pressure in recent days from geopolitical tensions, as U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Taiwan’s president despite warnings from China. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve officials said the central bank is likely to continue raising interest rates at coming meetings, dampening hopes in markets that slowing economic growth could mean a change in policy.
• There have been concerns about the pace of the economy, and even whether a new recession is coming, but the U.S. services sector continued to expand in July, according to a report from the Institute for Supply Management. The ISM’s index of conditions for businesses like restaurants, hotels and retailers hit a three-month high in July.
•  In corporate news, PayPal shares jumped 10% after hedge fund Elliott Management confirmed it has a $2 billion stake in the payments company. Starbucks rose 2.7% after it said demand is still strong and raising prices partially offset higher labor costs.
• Vaccine maker Moderna rose 16% after it posted earnings above analysts’ estimates and said it would begin a new $3 billion share repurchase program.
• Airbnb declined 4.7% after it said it swung back to profit but its outlook disappointed investors. Online dating group Match tumbled 17% after posting results that missed estimates and said the CEO of Tinder is leaving the firm.
• Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices fell 3% after it reported a drop in profit and issued guidance for the current period that came below Wall Street’s expectations.
• Oil prices fell after an OPEC+ meeting where a committee suggested a smaller-than-expected production increase, according to delegates. U.S. crude fell 2.5% to $92.10.
• In Asia, major benchmarks were mixed. The Shanghai Composite Index ticked down 0.7%, extending losses after it closed down 2.3% on Tuesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.4% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.5%.

Chip Maker AMD Prospers as Rival Intel Struggles – Wall Street Journal, 8/2/2022

• Advanced Micro Devices reported a sharp increase in quarterly sales, driven by strength in its data-center business where rival Intel has been stumbling, but issued a muted outlook for the current period.
• AMD on Tuesday said sales reached $6.6 billion in its second quarter, up 70% from a year earlier and ahead of Wall Street expectations.
• AMD last week overtook Intel in market cap after its rival posted disappointing results and said it had suffered setbacks in introducing its newest chips for the booming server market.
• AMD said its sales for that segment advanced 83% to $1.5 billion. Intel had reported a 16% decline in its comparable business unit.
• AMD’s market share rose to almost 28% in the first quarter from about 21% the year before, according to Mercury Research figures.
• The company said sales in its PC-chip division climbed 25% in the second quarter to $2.2 billion. The division that houses its chips for videogame consoles and graphics-processing chips recorded revenue of $1.7 billion, up 32%.
• Profit fell 37% to $447 million, reflecting adjustments linked to AMD’s acquisition of Xilinx Inc.
• The company also issued a subdued outlook for the current quarter, projecting roughly $6.7 billion in sales. That figure fell short of Wall Street projections for sales of $6.84 billion. U
• nlike Intel, which cut its full-year outlook last week, AMD maintained its full-year sales outlook despite a weaker overall personal-computer market, citing its strength in other areas.
• Intel expects PC shipments to fall about 10% this year. AMD expects an even-steeper slump, Ms. Su said Tuesday, with shipments retreating roughly 15% to around 290 million to 300 million units.

Airbnb Swings to Profit as Rentals Remain Strong Despite Inflation Pressure – Wall Street Journal, 8/2/2022

• Airbnb swung to a profit in the second quarter on the back of strong revenue, as people continued to book suburban rentals despite hosts raising prices.
• The San Francisco company posted $2.1 billion in revenue in the three months through June, up 58% from the same period last year, and in line with the average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet.
• Average daily rates climbed 1% from the same quarter a year ago but rose 40% from the corresponding 2019 period.
• Airbnb’s gross bookings—the value of bookings made on its platform—and the number of nights and experiences booked both grew more than 25% in the quarter, though they came in below analysts’ forecasts.
• Stays of 28 days or more made up 19% of bookings in the second quarter, flat from the same period a year earlier but above prepandemic levels. Those stays accounted for 21% of bookings in the preceding quarter.
• Airbnb reported a profit of $379 million in the period, topping analysts’ projections for a profit of $295 million and compared with a loss in the year-earlier quarter.
• The company expects revenue in the three months through September to range from $2.78 billion to $2.88 billion, higher than Wall Street’s average estimate of $2.77 billion.

Starbucks beats profit estimates despite hit to China business – Reuters, 8/2/2022

• Starbucks beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday as higher prices and strong demand for its coffees in the United States helped offset a hit to business in China from renewed COVID-19 lockdowns.
• Total net revenue rose to $8.15 billion from $7.5 billion a year earlier, edging past analysts’ average estimate of $8.11 billion.
• However, global comparable sales rose 3% in the fiscal third quarter ended July 3, compared with analysts’ average estimate for a 3.76% rise, according to Refinitiv IBES.
• U.S. sales were boosted by Starbucks’ ability to raise prices without pushback from its wealthier customers and its booming sales of cold beverages, which now make up about 75% of total beverage sales in U.S. company-operated cafes.
• China was hit by the “most severe COVID disruption since the pandemic began,” with comparable sales in the company’s fastest-growing market slumping 44% in the quarter, Belinda Wong, chairman of Starbucks China, said during the call.
• Its U.S. active membership in its rewards program also grew 13% to 27.4 million members.
• The Seattle-based chain earned 84 cents per share on an adjusted basis, beating estimates of 75 cents. The company’s stock rose nearly 2% in extended trading.

PayPal Surges as Analysts Cheer ‘Tough Love’ From Elliott – Bloomberg, 8/2/2022

• PayPal Holdings jumped after saying activist investor Elliott Investment Management is now one of its largest shareholders and recent cost-cutting moves will result in savings of $900 million this year.
• Such savings will swell to $1.3 billion next year, the payments giant said Tuesday in a statement announcing second-quarter earnings. PayPal also announced that its board authorized a new $15 billion share-repurchase program.
• Payments volume climbed 9% to $339.8 billion, missing the $344.3 billion average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg and the smallest increase in at least two years.
• The firm showed progress on that front: Transactions per active account climbed 12% to 48.7 in the quarter.
• The company now expects total payments volume for the year to climb by 16%, compared with an earlier range of 15% to 17%, according to the statement.
• It continues to expect to add roughly 10 million new users this year.
• PayPal boosted its forecast for adjusted earnings per share for the year to a range of $3.87 to $3.97, compared with earlier guidance of $3.81 to $3.93.

Electronic Arts Posts Higher Sales, Profit – Wall Street Journal, 8/2/2022

• Electronic Arts posted higher sales and profit in its recently ended quarter as two of its videogame series lifted results, even as consumers face high inflation and fears of a recession.
• The Redwood City, Calif.-based videogame company said that sales from its FIFA soccer and F1 racing franchises helped grow revenue more than 14% in its fiscal first quarter. Revenue came in at $1.77 billion, ahead of expectations for $1.26 billion.
• For the quarter ended June 30, Electronic Arts posted net income of $311 million, up from $204 million a year earlier. Analysts had projected net income of $101.6 million.
• Electronic Arts said it expects revenue between $1.85 billion and $1.90 billion and net income between $220 million and $242 million in the current quarter.
• Analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.84 billion in revenue and $402.7 million in net income.

Robinhood Lays Off 23% of Staff as Retail Investors Fade from Platform – Wall Street Journal, 8/2/2022

• Robinhood Markets is slashing about 23% of its full-time staff as the flashy online brokerage continues to reel from a sharp slowdown in customer trading activity.
• Revenue fell 44% to $318 million.
• Monthly active users tumbled to 14 million, down 34% from a year earlier.
• The job cuts mark the second round of layoffs this year at Robinhood, which in April reduced its staff by about 9%. Together, the two rounds have cut more than 1,000 jobs from the company.

Gilead quarterly profit falls as COVID antiviral sales decrease – Reuters, 8/2/2022

• Gilead Sciences on Tuesday said its second-quarter adjusted profit fell due to higher research and royalty costs as well as a downturn in sales of its COVID-19 antiviral drug Veklury.
• Quarterly revenue, however, rose 1% to $6.3 billion, which was ahead of the average Wall Street estimate of $5.85 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
• Sales of COVID-19 treatment remdesivir, which is sold under the brand name Veklury, fell 46% to $445 million, but still came in ahead of analysts’ estimates of $390 million.
• Cancer drug Trodelvy – shown in a recent trial to modestly delay tumor growth in women with the most common form of breast cancer – saw sales rise 79% to $159 million. Sales of Gilead’s cancer cell therapies rose by a robust 68% to $368 million.
• The biotech company said adjusted quarterly profit fell 13% to $1.58 per share, which also topped the average analyst estimate of $1.52. Net income fell to 91 cents per share from $1.21 per share.
• For full-year 2022, California-based Gilead sightly raised its forecast for adjusted earnings per share to between $6.35 to $6.75 from a previous view of $6.20 to $6.70.
• Gilead said it now expects product sales of $24.5 billion to $25 billion, up from a prior estimate of $23.8 billion to $24.3 billion.

CVS Lifts Outlook After Second-Quarter Sales Rose 11% – Wall Street Journal, 8/3/2022

• CVS Health raised its outlook for the year after reporting an 11% increase in second-quarter sales with growth across its healthcare empire, from more insured members to rising sales at its pharmacies.
• Revenue came in at $80.6 billion, ahead of analyst expectations for $76.4 billion, according to FactSet.
• Total pharmacy claims in the period grew almost 4% on a 30-day equivalent basis. The company said its performance was bolstered by new business and an extended cough, cold and flu season, which helped offset a decrease in Covid-19 vaccinations.
• CVS administered about six million Covid-19 vaccines in its most recent quarter, down from about 17 million vaccines in the year-ago quarter and more than eight million in the first three months of the year.
• The company reported that net income for the quarter ended June 30 rose to $3 billion, or $2.23 a share, from $2.8 billion, or $2.10 a share, in the previous year.
• Stripping out one-time costs, per-share earnings were $2.40. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting adjusted per-share earnings of $2.18.
• The company raised its full-year per-share earnings guidance to between $7.23 and $7.43, up from its previous view of between $6.93 and $7.13. On an adjusted basis, the company now expects full-year earnings of between $8.40 and $8.60, up from between $8.20 and $8.40.
• Full-year revenue is now expected to be between $307 billion and $312 billion, the company said, up $2 billion from its prior projected range.

New York Times Adds Digital Subscribers as Digital Advertising Declines – Wall Street Journal, 8/3/2022

• New York Times added 180,000 digital subscribers in the second quarter but posted its first decline in digital advertising revenue since 2020, due in part to the macroeconomic environment.
• Revenue rose 11% to $555.7 million.
• Advertising revenue rose 4.1% to $117.4 million. Digital advertising revenue fell 2.4%, and print advertising revenue increased 15%.
• Subscription revenue increased 13% to $383.6 million. Other revenue—which includes live events, commercial printing and television series—increased 18% to $54.7 million.
• The news organization said it ended the quarter with 8.4 million paid digital-only subscribers. The subscriber figure counts the individuals who subscribe to at least one Times digital product.
• Net profit increased 14% to $61.8 million, or 37 cents a share, from $54.3 million, or 32 cents a share, a year earlier.
• The company said it expected digital-only subscription revenue to grow between 21% and 25% in the current quarter.

Under Armour Lowers Profit Targets for Year – Wall Street Journal, 8/3/2022

• Under Armour lowered its profit targets for its fiscal year, saying the price markdowns and higher freight costs that ate into quarterly earnings would continue to weigh on its results.
• Under Armour reported quarterly net income of $7.7 million, or 2 cents a share, down from $59.2 million a year ago. Revenue was flat at $1.35 billion.
• Analysts expected a profit of 3 cents a share on $1.34 billion in revenue, according to estimates compiled by FactSet.
• Inventory was up 8% to $954 million.
• The Baltimore company said it still expects its revenue to grow about 5% to 7% for the fiscal year that started April 1 but the higher costs would leave its operating income between $300 million and $325 million, compared with its prior goal of $375 million to $400 million.
• The company now expects adjusted earnings per share for the full year to come in between 47 cents and 53 cents, down from its May forecast range of 63 cents to 68 cents.

KFC parent doubles down on deals as consumers cut spending – Reuters, 8/3/2022

• Yum Brands said on Wednesday it would offer new items and promotional deals in the coming days as it seeks to reverse a slowdown in demand for its pizzas and fried chicken from low-income consumers.
• Yum reported quarterly same-store sales growth of 1%, largely in line with estimates, with Taco Bell posting a better-than-expected 8% increase to make up for declines at KFC and Pizza Hut.
• Pizza Hut sales faltered even as more than half of its U.S. restaurants adopted third-party delivery services at the end of the quarter to beef up their operations, up from 40% at the beginning of the quarter.
• Yum second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.05 fell short of estimates of $1.09.

Match Splits With Tinder CEO as Earnings Fall Short – Wall Street Journal, 8/3/2022

• Match Group’s new chief executive has shaken up the leadership of the company’s Tinder dating platform citing product missteps as he seeks to boost growth for the online dating company.
• Match Group said revenue grew 12% to $794.5 million in the quarter, lagging Wall Street’s forecasts.
• The company reported a net loss of $31.9 million, far from analysts’ expectation of a $156.5 million profit, according to FactSet.
• The Dallas-based company said it expects muted top-line growth in the second half of 2022, with third-quarter revenue flat and limited improvement from that level in the following quarter. The company said it expects margins in the fourth quarter to improve modestly.
• The company reported a net loss of $31.9 million, far from analysts’ expectation of a $156.5 million profit, according to FactSet.

Regeneron allays competition fears for ‘gold standard’ eye drug, shares rise – Reuters, 8/3/2022

• Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said on Wednesday it expects demand for blockbuster eye drug Eylea to remain strong in the third quarter even in the face of emerging competition from rival drugs, sending the company’s shares up nearly 8%.
• The company’s quarterly revenue fell 44% to $2.86 billion, but came in ahead of analysts’ expectation of $2.80 billion.
• U.S. sales of Eylea, which has dominated the market for treatments for eye diseases such as macular degeneration, jumped 14% to $1.62 billion in the second quarter ended June 30.
• Regeneron’s anti inflammatory drug, Dupixent, recorded sales growth of nearly 40% in the quarter.

OPEC, Allies Agree to Modest Increase in Oil Production – Wall Street Journal, 8/3/2022

• OPEC and its allies agreed to a small increase in oil production Wednesday following calls by the U.S. and other major consumers for more supply, but the symbolic move is expected to have a minimal impact on crude prices.
• In their sixth meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, sending oil prices above $100 a barrel for the first time in eight years, members of the broader alliance, called OPEC+, agreed to raise their collective production by 100,000 barrels a day in September, delegates said.
• The alliance in June had agreed to boost output by 648,000 barrels a day in July and in August. Before that, OPEC+ rolled out monthly increases of 432,000 barrels a day as part of a plan agreed on last year to raise output to prepandemic levels.
• That deal ends in August, although many members are producing below their allotted quotas.

Gas Prices Have Fallen for 50 Straight Days, Approach $4 a Gallon – Wall Street Journal, 8/3/2022

• U.S. gas prices have fallen for seven straight weeks and are approaching an average price of $4 a gallon, easing the pain of record-high fuel costs amid shrinking global demand for oil.
• The average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline sank to $4.16 Wednesday, the 50th straight day that prices have declined, according to OPIS, an energy-data and analytics provider. That is a 17% decline from the previous high of $5.02 a gallon set back on June 14, according to OPIS.
• Global demand for oil has fallen in recent weeks as economic growth has slowed around the world, including in China, analysts said. Demand data and consumer surveys also suggest Americans are driving less.
• There are signs that record high gas prices took a toll on drivers. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults have already made changes to their driving habits since March, when gas prices were on the rise, according to a survey by AAA released in late July.
• Of those drivers who made adjustments, 88% said they are driving less, and 74% said they were combining errands to save on gas.

Rivian Says Senate Climate Deal Puts It at Disadvantage – Wall Street Journal, 8/2/2022

• Electric-vehicle startup Rivian Automotive is warning that planned revisions to the EV tax credit would put the young car maker at a disadvantage to more-established competitors.
• If it passes in its current form, the new legislation would extend the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs but add new restrictions that Rivian said would make most of its vehicles ineligible for the incentive program.
• The company, in particular, takes issue with a planned cap that would make any electric trucks, SUVs and vans selling for more than $80,000 ineligible for the federal subsidy.
• It also opposes the proposed income restrictions. Buyers with household incomes of $150,000 or higher—$300,000 for married couples—wouldn’t qualify for the credit on new EV purchases.
• While both the Rivian R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV both start below $80,000, “it doesn’t take much to push our vehicles over the cap,” Mr. Chen said. Most of Rivian’s vehicles sell for above $80,000, he said.
• Under the current legislation electric vehicles are eligible for a federal tax credit of up to $7,500, but once a car company has sold 200,000 electrified vehicles, the credit begins to phase out and eventually lapses altogether.
• The changes in the proposed climate bill lift the 200,000-vehicle threshold for car companies and introduce other measures for EVs to qualify for the credit, such as requiring at least half of the battery components used be manufactured or assembled in the U.S. That requirement rises gradually to 100% by the end of 2028.