Before markets opened on Tuesday, United Parcel Service beat analysts’ profit and revenue estimates for the March quarter. UPS also reaffirmed revenue guidance of $102 billion for the 2022 fiscal year, slightly above analysts’ consensus. Shares traded up about 1.8% in Tuesday’s premarket session.
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Archer Daniels Midland beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines Tuesday morning, and the stock was up by about 3.9% in premarket trading. Corning also beat on the top and bottom lines and raised revenue guidance for the full fiscal year. The stock traded up by more than 8%. Homebuilder D.R. Horton beat estimates as well and issued guidance in line with expectations, and the stock added more than 3% in premarket trading.

GE continued Tuesday morning’s streak of companies beating estimates, but CEO Larry Culp said that GE currently expects to match the low end of its previous guidance. The stock traded down 3.2%. PepsiCo also beat both revenue and profit estimates but issued profit guidance below analysts’ estimates, even though revenue guidance was higher than analysts are forecasting. The stock traded down 0.7%. Raytheon beat the earnings per share (EPS) estimate but missed on revenue. Fiscal year guidance was mixed, and shares were down about 2% in Tuesday’s premarket trading.

After markets close Tuesday, Enphase Energy, GM, QuantumScape and Texas Instruments are on deck to report March-quarter results. To round out the action, Alphabet, Chipotle, Microsoft and Visa also release will their earnings reports after the closing bell.

Before markets open on Wednesday, reports from Boeing, General Dynamics and Teck Resources are expected, along with those from Kraft Heinz, Spotify and T-Mobile.

Here is what analysts expect from four companies posting quarterly results after markets close on Wednesday.

Ford

On Tuesday, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) launches its F-150 Lightning all-electric pickup truck, one day ahead of reporting its first-quarter results. Maybe the hoopla surrounding the launch of what Executive Chair Bill Ford says is the “most important launch of my career” will distract analysts and investors from the company’s poor performance.

U.S. first-quarter sales fell 17% year over year, and sales of the non-electric F-150 dropped 31%. Sales in China were down 18.8% in the first quarter. Ford’s stock price is up about 26% over the past 12 months, but since reaching a 52-week high in mid-January, the stock is down 39%. Supply chain issues get the blame, but investors are getting a bit tired of hearing that. What they want to hear is how Ford is going to move beyond those issues.
Analysts remain mixed on Ford stock, with 10 of 22 brokerages giving it a Buy or Strong Buy rating and nine rating the shares at Hold. At a recent price of around $15.20 a share, the upside potential based on a median price target of $20 is 31.6%. At the high price target of $32, the upside potential is 110%.
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First-quarter revenue is forecast at $31.24 billion, down 11% sequentially and 6.6% lower year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast at $0.38, up 44.4% sequentially but down 57% year over year. For the full 2022 fiscal year, consensus estimates call for EPS of $1.93, up 21.6%, on sales of $144.2 billion, up 14.3%. To make those numbers, Ford needs to see big sales in the next two quarters.

Ford stock trades at 7.9 times expected 2022 EPS, 6.8 times estimated 2023 earnings of $2.23 and 6.6 times estimated 2024 earnings of $2.30 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $11.14 to $25.87. Ford pays an annual dividend of $0.40 (yield of 2.64%). Total shareholder return for the past year was 23.4%.

Meta Platforms

Since posting a 52-week high in early September of last year, Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) stock has lost 51% of its value. Since reporting quarterly results in early February, the stock is down 42%. The tech sector as a whole is down about 10% for the year. The issue, it seems, is growth. Meta’s expected revenue growth for the March quarter is just over half as much as the growth it posted in the prior quarter. Daily active user growth was less than half that of Snap in the fourth quarter. What Meta has, though, is eye-popping margins, and that forgives a lot of sins.

Analysts are virtually unanimous in their evaluation of Meta. Of 54 brokerages covering Facebook, 32 have a Buy rating and eight more have a Strong Buy rating. Another 12 rate the stock at Hold. At a share price of around $187, the upside potential based on a median price target of $320 is 71.1%. At the high price target of $466, the upside potential is nearly 150%.

Meta is expected to report first-quarter revenue of $28.22, down 16.2% sequentially but up 7.8% year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast at $2.51, down 31.5% sequentially and 23.9% lower year over year. For full fiscal 2022, revenue is forecast at $131.1 billion, up 11.2%, and EPS is expected to come in at $12.16, down 11.7%.

Meta stock trades at 15.4 times expected 2022 EPS, 13.0 times estimated 2023 earnings of $14.39 and 11.6 times estimated 2024 earnings of $16.13 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $181.66 to $384.33. Facebook does not pay a dividend, and total shareholder return for the past 12 months was negative 37.9%.

PayPal

PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) has dropped 67% of its share price over the past 12 months and nearly 72% since late July of last year. And where investors might see a collapse, analysts continue to love the stock. Only one of 49 has a Sell rating on the shares. According to Bloomberg, the Wall Street consensus on the stock is that the share price will soar by 90% in the next year.

In a detailed explanation of PayPal’s business model at her website (The Blind Spot, $), Izabella Kaminska wrote, “[PayPal’s] underlying structure is much more akin to a money market fund or a stablecoin than it is a conventional money transmitter.” Kaminska also cites outgoing CFO John Rainey’s comments during PayPal’s February conference call: “[A]s you think about interest rates and sort of the response of higher inflation, where we benefit from higher interest rates is on the interest that we earn on our customer balances.” Interest rate arbitrage is about to begin working in PayPal’s favor again.
PayPal gets a Buy or Strong Buy rating from 36 of the 49 analysts, and another 12 have Hold ratings. At a share price of around $87.80, the upside potential based on a median price target of $165 is 88%. At the high target of $245, the upside potential is nearly 180%.
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First-quarter revenue is expected to come in at $6.41 billion, down 7.4% sequentially but up 6.3% year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast at $0.88, down almost 21% sequentially and 27.9% year over year. For full fiscal 2022, estimates call for EPS of $4.62, up 0.5%, on sales of $29.26 billion, up 15.3%.

PayPal stock trades at 19.0 times expected 2022 EPS, 15.2 times estimated 2023 earnings of $5.78 and 12.4 times estimated 2024 earnings of $7.08 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $84.42 to $310.16. PayPal does not pay a dividend, and total shareholder return for the past 12 months was negative 67%.

Qualcomm

Networking equipment maker Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) has added about just 2.6% to its share price over the past 12 months, and even that hasn’t been easy. In mid-January the stock put up a new 52-week high; since then, the shares are down 26%.

Earlier this month, J.P. Morgan analysts dropped Dow Jones industrial average component Qualcomm (and Apple, another Dow stock) from their “Analyst Focus List,” primarily on macro concerns like new lockdowns in China and inflationary pressures exacerbated by Russia’s war on Ukraine. The analyst sees a slowdown in demand for smartphones.

Of 32 analysts covering the company, 22 have a Buy or Strong Buy rating, and the other 10 rate the stock at Hold. At a share price of around $136.60, the upside potential based on a median price target of $202.50 is 48.2%. At the high target of $250, the upside potential is 83%.

Second-quarter fiscal 2022 revenue is forecast to come in at $10.6 billion, down 0.9% sequentially but up 33.8% year over year. Adjusted EPS are pegged at $2.92, down 9.7% sequentially and 53.7% higher year over year. For the full fiscal year, analysts currently expect the company to post EPS of $11.83, up 38.6%, on sales of $42.32 billion, up 26.5%.

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Qualcomm stock trades at 11.5 times expected 2022 EPS, 10.9 times estimated 2023 earnings of $12.54 and 10.3 times estimated 2024 earnings of $13.24 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $122.17 to $193.58. Qualcomm pays an annual dividend of $2.72 (yield of 2.2%). The annual dividend has been raised to $3.00 per share beginning with the June payment. Total shareholder return over the past 12 months was 2.63%.

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