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Earnings Previews: AbbVie, Comcast, Valero Energy

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After U.S. markets closed on Monday, Cadence Design beat consensus estimates on both the top and bottom lines. Fiscal year guidance was in line with expectations as well. Investors were clearly hoping for more, as the stock traded down 1.1% shortly before noon Tuesday.

Cleveland-Cliffs missed Wall Street’s earnings per share (EPS) estimate by a penny while beating the revenue forecast. Still, revenue was down about 5.6% year over year. Shares traded up 5.6%.

NXP Semiconductors beat top-line and bottom-line estimates. Guidance was in line with expectations, and the stock traded up about 4.5%.

Before markets opened on Tuesday, General Motors beat the consensus EPS and revenue estimates, with revenue up 25% year over year in the quarter. The automaker raised fiscal 2023 EPS guidance from a range of $6.45 to $7.35 to a new range of $7.15 to $8.15. The company also offered long-term guidance, including doubling annual revenue to a range of $275 billion to $315 billion by 2025 and targeting EV production of 1 million annually in North America by the same year. Shares traded down about 4.3%.

General Electric beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines and also issued upside guidance for the 2023 fiscal year. EPS guidance rose from a prior range of $1.70 to $2.00 to a new range of $2.10 to $2.30. Shares traded up 5.9%.

GE HealthCare topped EPS and revenue estimates and issued in-line guidance. The stock traded down about 2%.

Verizon beat the EPS consensus but missed on revenue. Broadband net additions topped 400,000 for the third consecutive quarter, and wireless revenue rose 3.8% year over year. Verizon also affirmed fiscal 2023 EPS guidance of $4.55 to $4.85. Shares traded up 0.4%.

After markets close on Tuesday, Alphabet, Microsoft and Visa are scheduled to release earnings reports. AT&T, Boeing and Coca-Cola are expected to share their results first thing Wednesday morning. Look for reports from Mattel, Meta Platforms and ServiceNow later on Wednesday.


Here is a look at three companies set to report quarterly results early Thursday morning.

AbbVie

Pharmaceuticals giant AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) has had a tough year. Shares have dropped by around 12% since January due in large part to the company’s loss of patent protection on its Humira drug. CEO Richard Gonzalez told The Wall Street Journal that if AbbVie could find “something that’s of interest,” we could expect the company to “act on that.” Act, here, means write a big check to acquire a company or a drug to plug the Humira hole. And it’s a big one: $20 billion in 2021 revenue and nearly $19 billion in 2022.

Brokerage firms have warmed up somewhat, with 15 of 29 having Buy or Strong Buy ratings and another 13 rating the stock at Hold. At a recent price of around $143.00 a share, the implied upside based on a median price target of $162.00 is 13.3%. At the high price target of $201.00, the implied gain is 40.6%.

Estimates for the second quarter call for revenue of $13.53 billion, which would be up 10.6% sequentially but down 7.2% year over year, while adjusted EPS are pegged at $2.80, up 13.9% sequentially and 16.9% lower year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, analysts anticipate EPS of $10.91, a drop of 20.8% year over year, and sales of $52.74 billion, down 9.2%.

AbbVie stock trades at 13.1 times expected 2023 EPS, 12.9 times estimated 2024 earnings of $11.08 and 11.8 times estimated 2025 earnings of $12.11 per share. Its 52-week trading range is $130.96 to $168.11, and AbbVie pays an annual dividend of $5.92 (yield of 4.16%). Total shareholder return over the past year was negative 0.12%.

Comcast

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) has added more than 24% to its share price so far in 2023, but the stock has gained less than 2% over the past 12 months. The company has been waging a defensive battle against booming fixed wireless deployment by AT&T and Verizon. Comcast’s large customer base helps, but new fixed wireless is cheaper and almost as fast as Comcast’s fiber optic service.

The good news for investors is that Disney is highly likely to purchase Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu in January. The minimum price is around $9 billion, but most analysts think it will go higher. Comcast thinks it is worth about three times that price.

Analysts remain bullish on Comcast stock, however, with 19 of 32 brokerages having a Buy or Strong Buy rating and another 11 rating it at Hold. At a share price of around $43.50, the upside potential based on a median price target of $46.50 is 6.9%. At the high price target of $60.00, the upside potential is 37.9%.

Second-quarter revenue is forecast to come in at $30.14 billion, up 1.5% sequentially and basically flat year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast at $0.98, up 6.4% sequentially but 3.0% lower year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, analysts expect Comcast to report EPS of $3.63, down 0.2%, on sales of $120.3 billion, down 0.9%.

Comcast stock trades at 11.9 times expected 2023 EPS, 10.6 times estimated 2024 earnings of $4.07 and 9.7 times estimated 2025 earnings of $4.47 per share. The 52-week trading range is $28.39 to $43.72. Comcast pays an annual dividend of $1.16 (yield of 2.68%). Total shareholder return over the past year is 5.29%.

Valero Energy

Oil refiner and product marketer Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) has seen its share price increase by about 21% over the past year. Shares have dipped by less than 1% so far in 2023. Refining and marketing profits depend a lot on the price of crude. West Texas Intermediate prices are up about 3% so far this year and down by 18.5% over the past 12 months. Crude prices have bounced a bit higher over the past three months, adding about $5.00 a barrel (6%) to Valero’s costs. The solid dividend keeps investors interested.

Of the 21 analysts covering the stock, 16 have a Buy or Strong Buy and four have Hold ratings. At a share price of around $126.00, the upside potential based on a median price target of $140.50 is 11.5%. At the high price target of $171.00, the upside potential is around 35.7%.


Analysts are forecasting second-quarter revenue of $35.57 billion, down 2.4% sequentially and down 31.1% year over year. Adjusted EPS are pegged at $5.08, down 38.6% sequentially and by 27.5% year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year, current estimates call for EPS of $21.68, down 35.7%, on revenue of $143.73 billion, down 18.5%.

Valero stock trades at 5.8 times expected 2023 EPS, 9.5 times estimated 2024 earnings of $13.23 and 11.2 times estimated 2025 earnings of $11.19 per share. The 52-week range is $97.73 to $150.39. The company pays an annual dividend of $4.08 (yield of 3.46%). Total shareholder return for the past 12 months was about 18.9%.

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