Category Archives: oud

Tesla Forecasts Production, Spending Hikes Amid Strong Demand

Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) expects to ship 20,000 cars in Q2, up 30% sequentially, and said capital expenditures will be 50% higher than previous guidance of $1.5 billion. The electric car maker is also bumping up its 500,000 unit build plan by two years to 2018 due to the “overwhelming demand” for the Model 3. Tesla lost 57 a share in Q1, deepening the 36-cent loss in last year’s Q1, and slightly beating consensus for a 58-cent per-share loss. This included a 7-cent positive impact from “unrealized gains from revaluation of our foreign currency transactions,” according to management’s letter to shareholders. Non-GAAP sales rose 45% to $1.6 billion, and GAAP sales totaled $1.15 billion. Analysts were expecting $1.6 billion. Tesla shares jumped 5.5% in late trading, after closing down 4% in the regular session. Tesla said “we remain confident that we can deliver 80,000 to 90,000 new Model S and Model X vehicles in 2016.” It added that it expects 30% gross margin on the Model S sedan and 25% on the Model X SUV by year-end. At the same time, it predicted a 20% to 25% operating-expense increase by year-end. Earlier Wednesday, Bloomberg broke the news that Greg Reichow , Tesla’s vice president of production, and manufacturing chief Josh Ensign will exit the company, bringing the number of vice presidents who’ve left so far this year to five. Reichow, who joined in 2011, was a particularly significant player at Tesla, having led a team responsible for “building an all-new manufacturing organization from the ground up and for making Model S and Model X a reality,” according to Chief Executive Elon Musk. Reichow’s departure was described as a leave of absence, but its length wasn’t specified. Bloomberg also cited an anonymous source saying that glitches in the launch of the Model X were tied to the executives’ departures, though Tesla denied this.

Fitbit Beats Q1 Targets, But Disappoints On Q2 EPS Outlook

Fitbit ( FIT ) late Wednesday smashed Wall Street’s targets for the first quarter, but delivered mixed guidance for the current quarter that disappointed investors. Fitbit stock plunged as much as nearly 12% in after-hours trading following the earnings news release. In Wednesday’s regular session, Fitbit stock dipped a fraction, to 17.10. Fitbit made its IPO last June, pricing shares at 20. The maker of wearable fitness devices earned 10 cents a share excluding items on sales of $505.4 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected 3 cents and $444.3 million. On a year-over-year basis, Q1 sales rose 50%. But that’s down from 92% growth in Q4, 168% in Q3 and 253% in Q2. Q1 earnings per share dropped 63% from 27 cents in the year-earlier period. For the current quarter, Fitbit is projecting earnings per share of 8 to 11 cents excluding items on sales of $565 million to $585 million, or $575 million at the midpoint. Wall Street had been modeling for Fitbit to earn 26 cents a share, up 24%, on sales of $531.3 million, up 33%. For the year, Fitbit expects non-GAAP EPS of $1.12 to $1.24 on sales of $2.5 billion to $2.6 billion. Analysts on average were looking for 2016 EPS of $1.13 on sales of $2.46 billion. Fitbit competes in the health-and-fitness wearables market with Apple ( AAPL ), Garmin ( GRMN ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Under Armour ( UA ) and others. Last week, Fitbit announced a distribution deal Chinese e-commerce website Tmall.com , a unit of Alibaba Group ( BABA ), that could bolster its prospects in China.

Qorvo Sidesteps Apple iPhone Drag To Crush Fiscal Q4 Views

Qorvo ( QRVO ) sidestepped Apple ‘s ( AAPL ) iPhone drag late Wednesday with a Wall Street-crushing fiscal Q4 earnings report, and with guidance that — unlike rival Skyworks Solutions ( SWKS ) — topped consensus expectations. In after-hours trading, Qorvo stock rocketed more than 8% after closing down 1.2% in Wednesday’s regular session, and leading shares of radio-frequency rivals Skyworks and Broadcom ( AVGO ), whose stocks both rose a fraction. For its fiscal Q4 ended April 2, Qorvo reported $608.1 million in sales and $1.04 earnings per share minus items, down a respective 4% and 6% vs. the year-earlier quarter, but topping analysts’ model for $599.2 million and 92 cents. Three months ago, Qorvo guided to $600 million and 90-95 cents. Qorvo ended fiscal 2016 with $2.61 billion in sales, up 53%, and $4.38 EPS ex items, down 8%. Sales edged the consensus of 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for $2.6 billion, but EPS topped by 12 cents. Current-quarter guidance for $650 million in sales and $1.05 EPS minus items would be down 6% and 12% year over year, but that’s ahead of analyst expectations for $628.6 million and 96 cents. Last week, Skyworks reported fiscal Q2 metrics that topped views, but shares crashed 6.9% on Q3 sales guidance that missed by about $50 million. Analysts called for a similar report from Qorvo, which is more heavily exposed to Apple’s iPhone product cycle. Apple iPhone sales have slowed — for the first time — ahead of the iPhone 7 release expected in September. But all three RF suppliers will ramp up on the iPhone 7, Goldman Sachs analyst Toshiya Hari says.