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Earnings Previews: AMC Entertainment, Enbridge

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In mid-morning trading on Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrials were down 0.14%, the S&P 500 up 0.03% and the Nasdaq 0.32% higher.

After U.S. markets closed Tuesday, AMD reported better-than-expected earnings per share and revenue, but revenue fell by 9.1% year over year. Second-quarter revenue guidance was in line with the consensus range but about $1.35 billion below year-ago revenue of $6.55 billion. That AMD may clear a low bar was not impressing investors. Shares traded down about 7% in mid-morning action on Wednesday.

Caesars Entertainment missed the consensus earnings per share (EPS) estimate while topping forecast revenue. Shares traded up around 3.3% Wednesday morning.

Energy Transfer beat the consensus EPS estimate by a penny and missed on revenue. The company raised its full-year estimate of adjusted EBITDA due to an acquisition and increasing demand. Shares traded up 0.4%.

Ford beat estimates on the top and bottom lines. The company now reports internal combustion vehicles (Ford Blue) and electric vehicles (Ford Model e) separately. Ford Blue’s pretax profit of $2.62 billion was partially offset by a loss of $722 million in the EV division. In a regulatory filing Wednesday morning, the company said it would take restructuring charges of $1.5 billion to $2.0 billion this year as it departs unprofitable locations and cuts jobs. Shares traded up around 0.9%.

Before markets opened on Wednesday, Barrick Gold also beat top-line and bottom-line estimates. The company declared a first-quarter $0.10 dividend, equal to its payment for the fourth quarter. Barrick pays a variable dividend that was $0.20 for the year-ago first and second quarters. Shares traded up about 0.6%.

CVS Health also beat estimates on the top and bottom lines but issued downside EPS guidance for the 2023 fiscal year. The stock traded down about 2.9%.

Kraft Heinz beat both EPS and revenue estimates and raised EPS guidance for the full fiscal year. Shares traded up 4.2%.

Albemarle and Qualcomm are scheduled to report results after markets close Wednesday. The following morning, ConocoPhillips, Constellation Energy and Paramount Global will report quarterly results. Then look for reports from Apple and Block later on Thursday.

Here is a look at two companies set to report results before first thing Friday morning.

AMC Entertainment

Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) have dropped by about 63% over the past 12 months, including a year-to-date gain of 38%. From its 52-week high of last August, the stock is down 62%.

The decline came after AMC announced that it would issue preferred shares (NYSE: APE). Those preferred shares would later be converted to AMC common stock, the common stock would then complete a 1-for-10 reverse split, and AMC shareholders would then authorize an increase in the number of AMC shares the company could issue. AMC could then issue shares to raise capital. All went according to plan, but a federal judge last month must still issue a ruling on a settlement AMC reached with plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the settlement. It ain’t over ’til it’s over.

Since reporting earnings three months ago, AMC has doubled its analyst coverage. Eight brokerages now cover the stock, but none has a Buy or Strong Buy rating on the shares. Only three have rated the shares a Hold. At the recent price of around $5.60 a share, the stock trades more than three times higher than its median price target of $1.80. Shares also trade above the high target of $4.50.

First-quarter revenue is forecast at $937.7 million, which would be down 5.4% sequentially but up 19.3% year over year. Analysts expect AMC to report a loss per share in the quarter of $0.17, worse than the prior quarter’s loss of $0.14 per share and better than last year’s quarterly loss of $0.65 per share. For the full 2023 fiscal year, AMC is expected to post a loss per share of $0.41, compared with last year’s loss of $0.69 per share. Revenue is forecast to rise by 14.3% to $4.47 billion.

AMC is not expected to post a profit in 2023, 2024 or 2025. The enterprise value to sales multiple is expected to be 2.8 in 2023. Based on average estimated sales of $4.85 billion and $2.04 billion for 2024 and 2025, respectively, the multiple is 2.5 for 2024 and 2.4 for 2025. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $3.77 to $27.50. Total shareholder return for the past year was negative 39.78%.

Enbridge

Energy infrastructure giant Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB) has seen its share price drop by more than 10% over the past 12 months.

On Tuesday, Canada-based Enbridge paid $400 million for an underground natural gas storage facility in British Columbia as it continues to shift its focus from petroleum to natural gas. More than half of the company’s EBITDA now comes from natural gas. Enbridge is expected to spend about 20% of its 2023 capex budget on renewable energy projects, about the same amount it will spend on capital projects for its oil business. Natural gas is expected to get about 60% of the company’s capital budget.

Of 22 brokerages covering the stock, 12 have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and the other 10 rate it at Hold. At a price of around $39.00 a share, the upside potential based on a median price target of $43.00 is 10.3%. At the high price target of $48.00, the upside potential is about 20.9%.

Analysts anticipate first-quarter revenue of $11.74 billion, up 18.4% sequentially but 2.8% lower year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast at $0.61, up 31.7% sequentially and down 9.0% year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, analysts expect Enbridge to report EPS of $2.18, up 5.2%, on sales of $38.84 billion, down 1.3%.

Enbridge stock trades at 17.8 times expected 2023 EPS, 17.5 times estimated 2024 earnings of $2.22 and 16.2 times estimated 2025 earnings of $2.40 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $35.02 to $47.67, and the company pays an annual dividend of $2.60 (yield of 6.58%). Total shareholder return over the past year was negative 4.75%.

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