In the first half-hour of trading Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrials were down 0.07%, the S&P 500 down 0.4% and the Nasdaq 0.51% lower.

After U.S. markets closed on Monday, First Republic Bank reported first-quarter results that wiped out a gain of more than 12% in the day’s regular trading session. Deposits dropped from $176.4 billion at the end of December to $104.5 billion at the end of March. Profits fell 33% year over year, and revenue fell by 13%. Shares traded down 28.2% Tuesday morning.

Cleveland-Cliffs beat estimates for both earnings per share (EPS) and revenue. The company said that its sales to automakers increased by 36% in the quarter, but revenue ended the period down 11.1% year over year. Even though the company expects “significant” EBITDA growth in the second quarter, investors were unconvinced. Shares traded down 2.9% early Tuesday.

Range Resources also beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines. Shares traded up 1%.

Before markets opened on Tuesday, General Electric beat both top-line and bottom-line consensus estimates. Revenue increased by 14.3% year over year, and the company issued in-line guidance for the full fiscal year. GE also raised the low end of its free cash flow estimate to $3.6 billion. Shares retreated 1.0% Tuesday morning.

UPS missed consensus EPS and revenue estimates and issued downside guidance for fiscal 2023. The package delivery giant cut its revenue estimate from a range of $97.0 billion to $99.4 billion to $97.0 billion, well short of the consensus estimate of $98.25 billion. UPS said it expects to spend $3 billion on share buybacks this year. Shares traded down about 8.9%.

GE HealthCare also beat top-line and bottom-line estimates and reaffirmed previous guidance. Shares traded down 8.4%.

General Motors beat expectations on the top and bottom lines and raised fiscal-year EPS guidance to a new range of $6.35 to $7.35. The automaker also said it expects 2025 revenue to rise to $225 billion, a compound annual growth rate of about 12%, while electric vehicle production will reach 1 million units in North America by 2025. Shares traded down 1.8%.

Raytheon beat top-line and bottom-line estimates and issued in-line EPS guidance for the full fiscal year. Shares traded down 0.4%.

After U.S. markets close on Tuesday, Alphabet, Enphase Energy, Microsoft, PacWest Bancorp, and Visa are set to report quarterly earnings. Look for reports from Boeing, Norfolk Southern and Teck Resources the following morning.

Here are previews of three companies set to report results late Wednesday.

Antero Resources

Independent oil and gas producer Antero Resources Corp. (NYSE: AR) is a major producer of natural gas liquids and natural gas in the Appalachian Basin. Over the past 12 months, the company’s share price has plunged by 30%. More than 93% of the stock’s float is held by institutional investors who may be growing impatient with the company’s profit decline. Propane prices have fallen 37% in the past year, and revenue fell by 8.5% year over year in the fourth quarter. The use of recycled plastics is also weighing on demand for feedstocks for plastics production.

Analysts are becoming cautious on Antero stock. Of 16 brokerages covering the company, seven have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and eight more rate the shares at Hold. At a recent price of around $23.00 a share, the upside potential based on a median price target of $34.00 is 39.1%. At the high price target of $45.00, the upside potential is 95.6%.
First-quarter revenue is forecast at $1.21 billion, which would be down 42.1% sequentially but up 53.8% year over year. Analysts expect Antero to post EPS of $0.52, down 49.6% sequentially and nearly 55% lower year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, EPS are forecast at $1.71, down almost 69% year over year, on sales of  $4.79 billion, down 32.8%.

Antero stock trades at 13.4 times expected 2023 earnings, 6.7 times estimated 2024 earnings of $3.44 per share and 5.7 times estimated 2025 earnings of $4.03 per share. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $20.65 to $48.80. The company does not pay a dividend, and total shareholder return for the past year was negative 30.19%.

EQT

EQT Corp. (NYSE: EQT) is an independent producer of natural gas, with holdings of more than 1.7 million gross acres in the Marcellus shale play of Pennsylvania. Shares have lost 17.6% over the past 12 months. When the company released 2023 guidance in February, it said it expected its average differential compared to the NYMEX price of natural gas to fall below its own Henry Hub 2023 estimate of $1.65 per million cubic feet by $0.50 to $0.75 per million cubic feet.

Analysts have cooled slightly on the stock. Of 23 brokerages covering the company, 15 have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and the other eight rate the shares at Hold. At a share price of around $32.70, the upside potential based on a median price target of $43.00 is 22.3%. At the high price target of $61.00, the upside potential is 86.5%.

First-quarter revenue is forecast at $1.77 billion, down 49% sequentially but up from a loss of $570.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Analysts expect EQT to post EPS of $1.32, up 215.3% sequentially and by 69.0% year over year. For the full fiscal 2023 year, EPS are forecast at $2.40, down 22.7% year over year, on sales of  $6.06 billion, down 19.2%.

EQT stock trades at 13.6 times expected 2023 earnings, 7.1 times estimated 2024 earnings of $4.60 per share and 5.1 times estimated 2025 earnings of $6.40 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $58.11 to $51.97. The company pays an annual dividend of $0.60 (yield of 1.83%), and total shareholder return for the past year was negative 16.36%.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Meta Platforms

Shares of Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) have turned a rotten 2022 around in the first few months of this year. Shares dropped 79% between January and November of 2022, but since then, the stock has added nearly 140% to post a 12-month gain of 15.6%. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s commitment to “efficiency” this year will result in a total of some 21,000 job cuts, but what does he do for an encore? Investors will want to hear how Facebook’s ad sales are doing because that is where the money comes from, not hype about the metaverse or AI.

Of 57 analysts covering the stock, 42 have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and nine have a Hold rating. At a share price of around $212.80, the upside potential based on a median price target of $236.50 is 11.1%. At the high target of $305.00, the upside potential is 45.3%.

Meta is expected to report first-quarter revenue of $27.66 billion, down 14.1% sequentially and 0.9% lower year over year. Adjusted EPS are pegged at $1.95, up 10.6% sequentially but down 28.3% year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, consensus estimates call for EPS of $9.74, up 13.4%, on sales of $122.19 billion, up 3.8%.

The stock trades at 21.8 times expected 2023 EPS, 17.3 times estimated 2024 earnings of $12.31 and 14.5 times estimated 2025 earnings of $14.70 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $88.09 to $224.30. Meta does not pay a dividend, and total shareholder return for the past year was negative 15.58%.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.