US FINANCIAL MARKET

Stocks Open Higher After Jobs Report – Wall Street Journal, 11/5/2021

• U.S. stocks rose Friday after Labor Department data showed job growth rebounded in October following a summer slowdown.
• The S&P 500 ticked up 0.5% in early trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5%, or 158 points.
• The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.45%.
• The latest employment report showed the U.S. economy added 531,000 jobs in October, more than the 450,000 jobs that economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected to see.
• Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 4.6% from 4.8% in September.
• Stocks have climbed to a series of records in recent weeks, bolstered by blockbuster earnings reports from the biggest U.S. companies. About 82% of S&P 500 companies that have reported results this earnings season have topped analysts’ earnings forecasts, according to FactSet data.
• Shares of Peloton Interactive slumped 34% after the maker of fitness equipment reported a slowdown in subscriber growth.
• Airbnb, meanwhile, jumped 9.2% after posting record revenue in the third quarter.
• Overseas stock markets were mixed.
• The pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 index edged up 0.3%, led by gains for retail and telecom stocks.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.4%, China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.6%.

Pfizer Develops Covid Pill That Cuts Hospitalizations and Deaths by 89% – Bloomberg, 11/5/2021

• Pfizer said its Covid-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk patients by 89%, a result that has the potential to upend how the disease caused by the coronavirus is treated and alter the course of the pandemic. The shares surged.
• The drugmaker said in a statement on Friday that it was no longer taking new patients in a clinical trial of the treatment “due to the overwhelming efficacy” and planned to submit the findings to U.S. regulatory authorities for emergency authorization as soon as possible.
• The results mean there are now two promising candidates for treating Covid-19 patients early in the course of the disease.
• Last month, Merck & Co. and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP submitted their experimental pill to regulators after a study showed it slashed the risk of getting seriously ill or dying by half in patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19.
• A Pfizer spokesperson said the company currently expects to produce more than 180,000 packs of the drug by the end of this year, and anticipates making at least 50 million packs by the end of 2022, with 21 million produced in the first half of the year.

Uber Reaches Income Milestone as Rides Recover, Delivery Grows – Wall Street Journal, 11/5/2021

• Uber Technologies achieved an important measure of profitability for the first time since its inception more than a decade ago, helped by a recovery in its rides business and the continued strength of its food-delivery unit.
• Uber’s revenue—the company’s cut from these bookings—rose 72% year over year to $4.85 billion.
• Uber’s gross bookings—the total value of rides and food sold on its platform—reached an all-time high of $23.11 billion, up 57% from the same period last year.
• Ride bookings grew 67% while food-delivery bookings grew 50%, demonstrating people’s willingness to order in despite restaurant reopenings.
• The company said Thursday that it had added 640,000 ride-share drivers and food-delivery couriers since January, though it didn’t say how many more it needed to meet demand.
• The company reported a $8 million adjusted profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the three months ended Sept. 30.
• Uber had previously projected results between a loss of $25 million and a profit of $25 million by this measure.
• By standard accounting measures, Uber recorded a net loss in the quarter as it was hurt by its investment in Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global, whose shares plunged after Beijing initiated a probe into the company.
• Uber’s net loss widened to $2.42 billion in the third quarter from $1.09 billion in the same period a year earlier, driven by a $2 billion loss from its equity investments.

Airbnb Posts Record Results After Busy Summer Travel Season – Wall Street Journal, 11/5/2021

• Airbnb posted record revenue in the third quarter, punctuating the home-sharing company’s rebound from the collapse in bookings during the early days of the pandemic.
• Airbnb on Thursday said revenue for the third quarter reached $2.24 billion, up 67% from the year-ago period.
• The company’s previous revenue record of $1.65 billion came in the third quarter of 2019.
• The strong bookings helped the company generate a $833.9 million profit, its highest ever and almost four times the year-earlier figure. Results beat Wall Street expectations for both the top and bottom line.
• Airbnb said it is preparing for bumper Thanksgiving business, with bookings at the end of September up roughly 40% from the 2019 level.
• Airbnb’s cross-border activity is back to 80% of what it was at its pre-pandemic peak, he added, now accounting for a third of the company’s total business.
• The company expects sales in the current quarter of between $1.39 billion and $1.48 billion, topping both the 2020 and 2019 figure.

Square quarterly profit jumps on bitcoin boost – Reuters, 11/5/2021

• Square reported a nearly 60% rise in third-quarter gross profit on Thursday, fueled by a jump in bitcoin transactions on its peer-to-peer payment service Cash App.
• Total net revenue jumped 27% to $3.84 billion.
• Cash App generated $1.82 billion in bitcoin revenue, up 11% from a year earlier.
• Its gross payment volumes, a measure of the transactions processed on Cash App, rose 27% to $3.7 billion.
• The payments firm, which is acquiring buy now, pay later pioneer Afterpay for $29 billion, posted gross profit of $1.13 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30.

Pinterest sees strong sales as ad spending booms in holiday rush – Reuters, 11/5/2021

• Pinterest forecast fourth-quarter revenue growth in the high-teens percentage range, after online retailers splurging on ads before the holiday season helped the image-sharing company beat quarterly estimates.
• Pinterest’s quarterly revenue of $633 million surpassed analysts’ average estimate of $630.9 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
• Pinterest’s monthly active users (MAU), meanwhile, grew just 1% to 444 million, missing FactSet estimates of 460 million.
• Last year, the company had notched a 37% surge as users stuck at home turned to social media to keep themselves entertained.
• Its users, called “pinners”, using the app’s shopping features increased 60% from a year ago.
• Net income was $94 million, or 14 cents per share, during the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $94.2 million, or 16 cents per share, a year ago.

Novavax completes process for WHO emergency use approval of COVID-19 vaccine – Reuters, 11/5/2021

• Vaccine developer Novavax said on Thursday it has completed the submission process for emergency use listing of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate with the World Health Organization.
• Revenue rose to $178.8 million, mainly due to increased development activities relating to its COVID vaccine, including services performed under the U.S. government agreement and royalties from licensing pacts.
• The Maryland-based vaccine developer reported a bigger net loss of $322.4 million, or $4.31 per share, for the third quarter, compared with $197.3 million a year earlier.
• The company submitted to the health agency all modules required for the evaluation of NVX-CoV2373, its protein-based COVID-19 vaccine, days after receiving its first emergency use authorization from Indonesia.
• A green light from the WHO would set the stage for Novavax to begin shipping doses to the COVAX program that supplies shots to low-income countries.
• The company said it remains on track to file for U.S. approval by end of the year.

Expedia Stock Soars as Earnings Show Travel Roaring Back – Bloomberg, 11/5/2021

• Expedia shares traded sharply higher after stronger than expected third-quarter results offered further evidence that the travel market is on the mend.
• For the quarter, Expedia posted revenue of $2.96 billion, up 97% from a year ago, and well ahead of the Wall Street analyst consensus at $2.73 billion.
• Gross bookings were $18.7 billion, up 117%, while adjusted EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization was $855 million, up 181% from a year ago.
• Expedia said lodging revenue was $2.3 billion, up 87%, while air revenue was $61 million, up 128%, and advertising and media revenue was $202 million, up 116%.
• Non-GAAP profits were $553 million, or $3.53 a share, more than twice the Street consensus forecast of $1.65 a share.

Peloton’s Sales Lose Speed as Fewer People Work Out at Home – Wall Street Journal, 11/5/2021

• The maker of connected fitness equipment on Thursday reported its smallest quarterly gain in subscriber growth since it became a public company two years ago, and said that fewer people are joining its online workouts.
• Peloton also lowered its forecasts for the fiscal year that ends June 30, warning its annual revenue could be nearly 20% below its earlier projection. Shares plunged 25% in after-hours trading.
• Peloton’s sales increased 6% to $805.2 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30.
• The company booked a net loss of about $376 million for the period, compared with a profit of $69.3 million a year ago.
• The number of people subscribing to Peloton’s remote fitness classes reached 2.5 million as of Sept. 30, up from 2.3 million at the end of June and 1.3 million a year earlier.
• It’s the first time subscriber growth was less than 10% sequentially.
• Subscribers increased by 20% or more each quarter, between the fall 2019 and summer 2021.
• The company said it now expects to have 3.35 million to 3.45 million subscribers at the end of June, down from an earlier target of 3.63 million. It now forecasts $4.4 billion to $4.8 billion in annual revenue, down from $5.4 billion.

Datadog stock rallies after results, outlook exceed Wall Street expectations – MarketWatch, 11/5/2021

• Datadog shares rallied in the extended session Thursday after the cloud-monitoring company’s results and outlook exceeded Wall Street expectations.
• Revenue rose to $270.5 million from $154.7 million in the year-ago quarter.
• The company reported a third-quarter loss of $5.5 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with a loss of $15.2 million, or 5 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
• Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of 6 cents a share on revenue of $247.8 million.
• Datadog expects adjusted earnings of 11 cents to 12 cents a share on revenue of $290 million and $292 million in the fourth quarter, and 39 cents to 40 cents a share on revenue of $993 million and $995 million for the year.
• Analysts forecast 6 cents a share on revenue of $263.4 million for the quarter, and 28 cents a share on revenue of $943.7 million for the year.

DraftKings Stock Slides on Wider-Than-Expected Quarterly Loss and Revenue Miss – Bloomberg, 11/5/2021

• DraftKings, the online sports betting company, was falling Friday after reporting a third-quarter loss wider than analysts’ expectations and revenue that missed forecasts.
• DraftKings posted a quarterly loss of $1.35 a share on revenue of $213 million.
• Analysts expected DraftKings to report a third-quarter loss of 98 cents a share on revenue of $236.9 million.
• Revenue a year earlier was $133 million.
• The company said average revenue per monthly unique player was $47 in the third quarter, a 38% increase from the same period in 2020.
• DraftKings said it expects fiscal-year revenue of $1.24 billion to $1.28 billion, vs. previous guidance of $1.21 billion to $1.29 billion. Analysts have been calling for fiscal-year revenue of $1.29 billion.
• For fiscal 2022, DraftKings said it expects revenue of $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion.

Dropbox shares inch lower despite sales, earnings beats – MarketWatch, 11/5/2021

• Shares of Dropbox retreated in extended trading Thursday after the software company reported fiscal third-quarter sales that eclipsed Wall Street projections.
• Dropbox, reported net income of $75.6 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with net income of $32.7 million, or 8 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.
• Revenue rose 13% to $550.2 million from $487.4 million a year ago.
• Adjusted earnings were $147.1 million, or 37 cents a share.

Carvana’s Q3 sales more than double, but that created its own problems – MarketWatch, 11/5/2021

• Carvana rode a continued wave of demand for used cars to nearly double its quarterly revenue, but as it snapped up more vehicles to build its inventories it ran against “significant operational constraints,” the online used-car retailer said Thursday.
• Carvana, said it lost $32 million, or 38 cents a share, in the third quarter, compared with a loss of $7 million, or 10 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
• Revenue rose 125% to $3.48 billion, the company said.
• FactSet consensus called for a loss of 27 cents a share on sales of $3.3 billion.
• Buying more cars from customers leads to more last-mile pickups, more customer care interactions, and more complex title-processing requirements, which in turn leads to more complex registration processing, Carvana said in a letter to shareholders.
• “Despite these constraints, we are now buying and selling over (three times) as many cars as we were two years ago, and our team is hard at work unlocking additional capacity,” the company said.

Live Nation Returns to Profit With Summer Concert Season – Bloomberg, 11/5/2021

• Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest concert promoter, returned to profit last quarter after about two years of losses, citing the return of summer shows following Covid-19 lockdowns.
• Revenue soared to $2.7 billion, compared with Wall Street estimates of $2.12 billion.
• Spending per-fan on food, drink and merchandise increased more than 20% over levels two years ago.
• The Ticketmaster business delivered its highest profit ever and overall ticket sales to major shows were up 10% from prepandemic levels in 2019.
• Adjusted operating income amounted to $305.7 million in the third quarter, Live Nation said Thursday, rebounding from a $319.2 million loss a year earlier. Analysts were forecasting $204.9 million.

Sunrun revenue doubles as customer count tops 600,000 – CNBC, 11/5/2021

• Sunrun said Thursday that its revenue during the third quarter more than doubled year over year as the company’s customer count topped 600,000.
• Revenue: $439 million vs $414 million expected
• Earnings: 11 cents per share
• The third-quarter results compare with a loss of 20 cents per share on revenue of $401 million in Q2, and EPS of 28 cents per share on revenue of $210 million in the year-ago quarter.
• Operating losses also more than doubled from a year ago, jumping from $62 million to $138 million.
• The company said it added 30,698 customers during the third quarter, bringing its total customer count to 630,441.
• For the full year Sunrun expects Solar Energy Capacity Installed growth to be 30%, pro-forma for Vivint Solar.

First Solar’s sales decline amid ongoing supply chain bottlenecks – CNBC, 11/5/2021

• First Solar’s net sales declined during the third quarter, the company said Thursday, amid ongoing supply chain issues.
• Revenue: $584 million vs $685 million expected
• Earnings: 42 cents per share
• The third-quarter results compare with EPS of 77 cents per share on revenue of $629 million in Q2, and $1.45 per share on revenue of $928 million in the year-ago quarter.
• First Solar said it produced 2 gigawatts of modules during the third quarter, despite ongoing challenges around freight and from the pandemic.
• The company reiterated its full-year 2021 net sales guidance of between $2.88 billion and $3.1 billion.
• The company lifted its expected cash from a prior high-end forecast of $1.45 billion to $1.55 billion, while saying it expects capital expenditures for the full-year to be lower than previously thought.
• For 2021 First Solar expects to ship between 7.6 gigawatts and 8 gigawatts of products.

News Corp Profit Surges on Gains in Real Estate, Book Publishing, News Media – Wall Street Journal, 11/5/2021

• News said quarterly profit rose nearly sixfold, driven by strong growth at its digital real-estate and book-publishing businesses as well as at Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones & Co.
• Revenue rose by 18% to $2.5 billion.
• The fastest growth came from the company’s real-estate services division, which posted a 47% rise in revenue to $426 million and 16% increase in segment earnings to $138 million.
• Dow Jones, the publisher of the Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch, reported a 15% rise in revenue to $444 million and a 32% increase in segment earnings to $95 million.
• Across the entire unit, Dow Jones reached an average 4.6 million subscribers in the quarter when including readers of Barron’s, MarketWatch, Financial News and Investor’s Business Daily.
• News Corp’s news-media segment, which includes the Sun, the New York Post and the Times in the U.K., reported an 18% increase in revenue to $576 million, benefiting from higher revenue from digital subscribers and a rebound in the advertising market.
• The New York-based media company, whose holdings include the Journal, HarperCollins Publishers and news organizations in the U.K. and Australia, reported a profit of $196 million, or 33 cents a share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a profit of $34 million, or 6 cents a share, a year earlier.

Rocket Cos. earnings and revenue fall – MarketWatch, 11/5/2021

• Rocket Cos., the U.S.’s biggest mortgage lender, said profit fell in the third quarter from a year earlier as revenue declined and expenses increased.
• Rocket generated net revenue of $3.1 billion, down from $4.6 billion a year ago.
• The company said it had closed loan volume of $88 billion in the third quarter, above the $82 billion to $87 billion range the company forecast in August.
• Net rate lock volume reached $86.7 billion, within the $83 billion to $90 billion range expected by the company and it had a gain on sale margin of 3.05%, above the 2.7% to 3% forecast from August.
• Total expenses increased to $1.7 billion in the quarter from $1.6 billion a year earlier.
• The Detroit-based company said Thursday its net income fell to $1.4 billion from $3 billion in the same period a year earlier.
• Rocket,said it expects to generate a closed loan volume of between $75 billion and $80 billion in the fourth quarter, with a net rate lock volume of between $71 billion and $78 billion and a gain on sale margin between 2.65% to 2.95%.

Shake Shack Stock Soars on Narrower Third-Quarter Loss, Sales Jump – The Street, 11/5/2021

• Shares of Shake Shack rose sharply Friday after the fast food chain cut its third quarter losses by more than half on a 48.6% jump in revenue.
• Revenue rose 48.6% to $193.89 million from $130.4 million in the same period a year ago, missing the low end of the company’s own revenue target by a whisker.
• During the third quarter of 2021, total digital sales, including orders placed on the Shake Shack app, website and third-party delivery platforms, represented approximately 42% of Shack sales.
• Shake Shack narrowed its third-quarter loss to $2.17 million, or 6 cents a share, from $5.5 million, or 15 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. The results were in line with Wall Street expectations.
• Shake Shack estimates revenue of $193.5 million to $200 million for the fourth quarter, while analysts currently expect $202.1 million.

Boeing Shareholders Reach Settlement in 737 MAX Board Oversight Suit – Wall Street Journal, 11/5/2021

• Current and former Boeing directors have reached an approximately $225 million agreement to settle a shareholder lawsuit that claimed the plane maker’s board failed to properly oversee safety matters related to the 737 MAX, according to people familiar with the matter.
• As part of the proposed settlement, Boeing has agreed to hire an ombudsman to handle internal issues and appoint a board member with experience in aviation safety, some of these people said.
• The settlement isn’t expected to include an admission of wrongdoing on the part of the directors, including Chief Executive David Calhoun, some of the people said.
• Mr. Calhoun, a director since 2009, was among board members who oversaw management during the airplane’s development and between two MAX accidents, which took 346 lives.

Port Snarls Show Cargo Ships Trying to Avoid the Big Bottlenecks – Bloomberg, 11/5/2021

• Congestion at many of the world’s major ports offered a snapshot of supply chains trying to avoid unprecedented bottlenecks, as cargo handlers searched for the quickest way to route goods through the clogged arteries of global commerce.
• The number of container ships off China’s largest trade hub, the combined anchorage area of Shanghai-Ningbo, stood at 248 on Friday, 31 less than the April-to-October median, while its smaller neighbor to the north, the regional port of Tianjin, was saddled with 14 waiting container carriers, 11 more than usual.
• Southern California remained a logistical mess, with at least 79 vessels waiting to offload in Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest container complex in the Americas.
• In Asia’s second-largest combined anchorage spot, Hong Kong-Shenzhen, the ship count stood at 221 — 30 more than the median, while its smaller southern neighbor, Qinzhou, saw a more modest high of 10 container ships over the same study period.
• Singapore, which drew down from Monday’s high of 53 waiting ships, had 17 more waylaid vessels than usual, creating a congestion rate of 48.2%, or 10.5 percentage points higher than the median.
• In neighboring Malaysia, Tanjung Pelepas saw its net congestion jump 30.5 points to 57.1% and Port Klang’s rose 7.5 points to 37.1%.