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Earnings Previews: Coterra Energy, eBay, Lucid, Nvidia

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In the first half-hour of trading on Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrials were down 0.88%, the S&P 500 down 0.87% and the Nasdaq down 1.01%.

Before U.S. markets opened on Tuesday, Home Depot reported earnings per share (EPS) that beat the consensus estimate by a penny. The miss on revenue and lower-than-expected guidance for 2024 fiscal year EPS and revenue sank the stock. Shares traded down 4.8% in early trading.
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Walmart beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines, but first-quarter and full-year earnings guidance came in below consensus estimates. Shares traded down 0.9%

Teck Resources missed on both EPS and revenue but reaffirmed its production guidance for copper and zinc. The company also announced its plan to spin off its metallurgical coal business into a new public company named Elk Valley Resources with a market cap of around $11.5 billion. Shares traded up 3.4%.

Coinbase, Palo Alto Networks and Transocean are expected to report results after U.S. markets close on Tuesday, and then Baidu, Stellantis and TJX Companies the following morning.

Here is a look at what to expect when the following four companies report results after Wednesday’s close.

Coterra

Shares of natural gas producer Coterra Energy Inc. (NYSE: CTRA) have added just 2.7% to their value over the past 12 months. Since posting a 52-week high in early June, the stock is down by about 30%. Coterra is primarily a natural gas producer focused on the Marcellus shale play in western Pennsylvania. Natural gas prices have dropped 77% since mid-August and, thanks to a mild winter, European stockpiles remain topped up. Coterra’s appeal is its superior dividend payment.

Of 28 brokerages covering the stock, 18 rate it at Hold and just eight have a Buy or Strong Buy rating. At a recent price of around $23.40 a share, the upside potential based on a median price target of $28.00 is 19.7%. At the high price target of $40.00, the upside potential is almost 71%.


Fourth-quarter revenue is forecast at $2.05 billion, which would be down 18.6% sequentially and by 8.1% year over year. (Revenue in the first three quarters of the year was about five times higher than in the prior year.) Adjusted EPS are pegged at $1.10, down 22.9% sequentially but up 32.5% year over year. For the full 2022 fiscal year, analysts expect Coterra to report EPS of $4.87, up 116.4%, on revenue of $8.82 billion, up 155.8%.

The stock trades at about 4.8 times expected 2022 EPS, 7.8 times estimated 2023 earnings of $3.02 and 8.1 times estimated 2024 earnings of $2.90 per share. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $21.22 to $36.55. Coterra has paid an annual (variable) dividend of $2.49 (yield of 10.64%) for the past year. Total shareholder return for the past year is 12.3%.

eBay

Online auction house eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has posted a share price decline of about 20.1% over the past 12 months. The stock has bounced off a 52-week low in mid-October to add more than 34% since. Last week, the company acquired a marketplace policing company to monitor seller behavior, including the sale of counterfeit goods. Rival Etsy was scorched by short-seller Citron Research a few days later for selling mounds of counterfeit products on its marketplace. eBay also has taken steps to boost its take rate but may face some ad sales headwinds in the near term.
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Of 31 brokerages covering the stock, nine have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and 19 rate the shares at Hold. At trading price of about $48.20, the shares trade above their median price target of $47.00. At the high target of $62.00, the potential upside is about 28.6%.

Analysts expect fourth-quarter revenue of $2.46 billion, up 3.4% sequentially and down by 5.7% year over year. Adjusted EPS for the quarter are forecast at $1.06, up 6.1% sequentially and a penny higher year over year. For the full year, analysts estimate EPS of $4.11, up about 2.2%, on revenue of $9.75 billion, down 6.5%.

Shares trade at 11.7 times expected 2022 EPS, 11.4 times estimated 2023 earnings of $4.23 and 10.2 times estimated 2024 earnings of $4.71 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $35.92 to $60.38. eBay pays an annual dividend of $0.88 (yield of 1.77%). Total shareholder return for the past 12 months is negative 11.86%.

Lucid

Electric vehicle (EV) maker Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ: LCID) made its public market debut in a SPAC merger late in July 2021. Shares doubled in value within four months, but the stock has dropped 80% since. In the first seven weeks of 2023, the shares are up about 60%, thanks to a reported potential buyout by its controlling shareholder (60%), Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and a recent announcement from the Biden administration of support for a much larger nationwide charging network.

The company needs to sell more EVs. Sales last year totaled around 4,400 compared to production capacity of more than 7,000. Even Rivian is doing better than that.

Only nine analysts cover the stock, with five having a Buy or Strong Buy rating and three more rating the shares at Hold. At a price of around $11.00 a share, the upside potential based on a median price target of $15.00 is 36.4%. Based on the high target of $18.00, the upside potential is 81.8%.
Analysts expect Lucid to report 2022 fourth-quarter revenue of $273.59 million, which would be 40% higher sequentially and up from $26.39 million in the year-ago quarter. The consensus forecast calls for an adjusted loss of $0.40 per share, equal to the prior quarter’s loss and 10 cents worse than last year’s fourth-quarter loss. For the full 2022 fiscal year, the loss per share is forecast at $1.11, down from last year’s loss of $5.00 per share, on sales of $662.89 million, up nearly 2,350%.
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The company is not expected to report a profit in 2022, 2023 or 2024. The enterprise value to sales multiple is expected to be 28.6 in 2022. Based on average estimated sales of $2.44 billion and $4.41 billion for 2023 and 2024, respectively, the multiple is 7.8 for 2023 and 4.3 for 2024. The stock’s 52-week range is $6.09 to $29.05. Lucid does not pay a dividend. Total shareholder return for the past year is negative 61.12%.

Nvidia

At the end of its third fiscal quarter in October, chipmaker Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) had been having a rough year. Shares were down by more than 45% and there was little in the way of good news about the company’s prospects. Since reporting those results, the share price has improved by nearly 98%.

The upheaval caused by OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT has given Nvidia a shot in the arm as well because the number and speed of calculations required for a really functional AI chatbot play right into Nvidia’s chipmaking strength. That impact may be a while in coming, but in the meantime, there is the company’s newly designed chip for the Chinese data center market that could provide some near-term boost to revenue.

In any event, analysts remain bullish on the stock, with 31 of 44 brokerages having a Buy or Strong Buy rating. Another 11 rate it at Hold. At a share price of around $214.00, the upside potential based on a median price target of $220.00 is about 2.8%. At the high target of $320.00, the upside potential is more than 50%.


For Nvidia’s fiscal fourth quarter, which ended in January, analysts expect revenue of $6.02 billion, up 1.5% sequentially but down 21.2% year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast to rise by about 38.5% sequentially to $0.80, a drop of more than 39% year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, analysts estimate EPS of $3.27, down 26.4%, and revenue of $26.94 billion, up just 0.1%.

Nvidia stock trades at 65.5 times expected 2023 EPS, 49.5 times estimated 2024 earnings of $4.32 and 37.6 times estimated 2025 EPS of $5.69 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $108.13 to $289.46. Nvidia pays an annual dividend of $0.16 (yield of 0.07%). Total shareholder return for the past 12 months was negative 12.65%.

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