In morning trading Friday, the Dow Jones industrials were up 0.49%, the S&P 500 up 0.46% and the Nasdaq 0.19% higher.

After U.S. markets closed on Thursday, Amazon reported better-than-expected earnings per share (EPS) and revenue. Comments from CFO Brian Olsavsky related to slower growth and lower profitability in the company’s AWS cloud business brought an after-hours surge of around 12% to a screeching halt. Shares traded down about 3.9% Friday morning.
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First Solar missed consensus estimates on both the top and bottom lines. Revenue rose by nearly 50% year over year but came in about 24% below forecast growth. Shares traded down 14.3%.

Intel beat estimates on the top and bottom lines despite a year-over-year drop of 36% in revenue. The company expects to see margin improvement in the second half of the year. Shares traded up 4.8% Friday morning.

T-Mobile reported mixed results, beating the EPS estimate but missing on revenue. The company forecast higher 2023 growth in postpaid subscribers than its previous estimate and a 9% jump in adjusted EBITDA. Shares traded down 3.4%.

U.S. Steel solidly beat both top-line and bottom-line estimates. Shares traded down 3.2% Friday morning.

Before markets opened on Friday, Chevron reported that EPS and revenue for its first quarter came in above analysts’ consensus. Oil production was down 3% in the quarter, and capital spending rose 55%. Free cash flow fell by more than 30% year over year, largely due to the increase in capex. Shares traded up 0.6% Friday morning.

Exxon Mobil had mixed results in the first quarter, beating the EPS estimate and missing on revenue. Net profit rose to an all-time (140-year) high of $11.4 billion. CFO Kathy Mikells attributed the positive surprise to a 40% combined increase in production from the Permian Basin and offshore Guyana. Shares traded up 2%.

Norwegian Cruise Line, ON Semiconductor and SoFi Technologies are on deck to report quarterly earnings before U.S. markets open on Monday. Later in the day, look for reports from MGM Resorts, NXP Semiconductors and Transocean.

Here is what analysts expect to hear from these four companies, including one Dow component, when they report results first thing Tuesday morning.

BP

Shares of integrated oil supermajor BP PLC (NYSE: BP) have performed well over the past year, putting up a gain of 38%, trailing only Exxon for the largest increase over the period. At Thursday’s annual meeting, 84% of shareholders voted against a climate proposal that would have committed the company to focus efforts on limiting global warming to 1.5°C. The number of “yes” votes, however, increased from 15% last year to 17%. Earlier this year, CEO Bernard Looney tried to rein in earlier promises the company had made on climate change.
Of 22 brokerages covering BP, 14 have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and the others rate the stock at Hold. At a recent price of almost $40.00 per American depositary share (ADS), the implied upside to a median price target of around $44.00 is 10%. At the high price target of about $60.00, the upside potential is about 50%. One ADS is equal to six common shares traded in London.
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The consensus estimate for first-quarter revenue is $5.42 billion, which would be down 15.7% sequentially but up 18.6% year over year. Adjusted earnings per ADS are forecast at $1.44, down 15.7% sequentially and by 25.0% year over year. For the 2023 fiscal year, analysts expect BP to report EPS of $6.30, down 28%, on sales of $234.73 billion, down 2.8%.

BP’s ADSs trade at 6.3 times expected 2023 EPS, 6.5 times estimated 2024 earnings of $6.18 and 6.8 times estimated 2025 earnings of $5.88 per ADS. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $25.36 to $41.38. BP pays an annual dividend of $1.44 (yield of 3.65%). The total shareholder return for the past year was 46.31%.

Enterprise Products Partners

Energy pipeline operator Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) has posted a share price gain of less than 1% over the past 12 months. It is the largest oil and gas midstream (pipeline and infrastructure) company in the country, with a market cap of about $57.1 billion. The company’s payout ratio is nearly 75%, thanks in large part to its master limited partnership structure. Enterprise’s guaranteed cash flows from long-term contracts are mostly insulated from commodity price swings, making the distributions that Enterprise and its peers pay to limited partners even more popular when times are bad.

Of the 22 brokerages covering the stock, 18 have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and the other rate it at Hold. At a share price of around $26.20, the stock trades about 22% below its median price target of $32.00. At the high target of $37.00, the upside potential on Enterprise stock is 41.2%.

Revenue for the first quarter is forecast at $13.75 billion, up about 0.8% sequentially and by 5.7% year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast at $0.62, down 4.5% sequentially but 3.3% higher year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, analysts expect to see $2.55 in EPS, up 1.4% year over year, on sales of $55.76 billion, a decrease of 4.2%.

Enterprise stock trades at 10.3 times expected 2023 EPS, 10.0 times estimated 2024 earnings of $2.64 and 9.5 times estimated 2025 earnings of $2.76. The stock’s 52-week range is $22.90 to $28.65, and the company pays an annual distribution of $1.96 (yield of 7.36%). Total shareholder return for the past 12 months was 7.25%.

Pfizer

Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) has posted a share price dip of about 23% over the past 12 months. More than all that decline (24.3%) has come since the beginning of the year. Pfizer booked $100 billion in revenue last year but expects a drop of at least 33% in 2023. Half of last year’s total was down to its COVID-19 vaccine, and that boost is not coming again this year. At least Pfizer does not face the loss of a patent-protected treatment in 2023, but several, including Eliquis and Xeljanz, lose exclusivity by 2030.
Of 25 analysts, 13 rate Pfizer stock at Hold, and 12 have a Buy or Strong Buy rating. At a share price of around $38.70, the upside potential based on a median price target of $47.50 is 22.7%. At the high target of $75, the upside potential is 93.8%.
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First-quarter revenue for the Dow stock is forecast at $16.49 billion, down 32.1% sequentially and by 35.7% year over year. Adjusted EPS are pegged at $0.99, down 13.5% sequentially and 38.9% lower year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, analysts expect Pfizer to report EPS of $3.40, down 48.3%, on sales of $68.82 billion, down 31.4%.

Pfizer stock trades at 11.4 times expected 2023 EPS, 10.2 times estimated 20243 earnings of $3.82 and 10.3 times estimated 2025 earnings of $3.78 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $38.31 to $54.93. Pfizer pays an annual dividend of $1.64 (yield of 4.23%). Total shareholder return for the past 12 months was negative 20.63%.

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Uber

Over the past year, shares of Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) have traded essentially flat. It could have been worse. Shares have added almost 25% so far in 2023, tagging along on the rediscovered appetite among investors for tech stocks.

On Thursday, New York State’s top court ruled unanimously that New York City never promised the city’s taxi drivers that it would protect their licenses (medallions). Uber and its rivals have shaved about 75% from the medallions’ value. In another bit of good legal news, a federal court ruled Wednesday that Uber’s drivers should not be exempt from arbitration rules because they are not involved in interstate commerce.

Analysts remain solidly bullish on Uber. Of 45 brokerages covering the stock, 40 have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and four rate it at Hold. At a share price of around $31.00, the potential upside based on a median price target of $45.00 is 45.2%. At the high target of $75.00, the upside potential is 142%.

The consensus revenue estimate for the first quarter is $8.71 billion, up 1.1% sequentially and up 27.2% year over year. Uber is expected to post EPS of $0.15 in the quarter, down 73% sequentially but up from a loss of $0.10 per share in the year-ago quarter. For the full 2023 fiscal year, analysts expect EPS of $0.82, compared with last year’s per-share loss of $3.32, on revenue of $36.91 billion, up 15.8%.

Uber’s stock trades at 37.4 times estimated 2023 earnings, 19.7 times estimated 2024 earnings of $1.56 and 13.3 times estimated 2025 earnings of $2.31 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $19.89 to $37.58. Uber does not pay a dividend. Total shareholder return for the past 12 months is negative 6.28%.

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