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Bristol-Myers Hits 17-Year High On Q1 Report; Celgene Also Up

Big-cap drug stocks Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY ) and Celgene ( CELG ) were both rising after their Q1 earnings reports early Thursday, though Celgene initially dropped as it delivered a long-expected guidance cut. Bristol-Myers reported earnings of 74 cents a share, minus one-time items, up 4% from the year-earlier quarter and beating analysts’ consensus by nine cents, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue rose 9% to $4.39 billion, about $140 million above Wall Street’s average estimate. Bristol-Myers added 20 cents to its full-year EPS guidance, now $2.40 to $2.60. It expects revenue to grow in the low double-digit range, which would be the first time since 1997 that annual sales gained that much. Recently launched cancer drug Opdivo beat sales estimates by a substantial margin — $704 million vs. analysts’ $587 million — up from just $40 million in the year-earlier quarter. Anti-clotting drug Eliquis also handily beat expectations, with sales more than doubling to $734 million. Bristol-Myers stock was up more than 3% in  afternoon trading on the stock market today , near 72.50, its highest point since October 1999. Celgene Sales Lag Expectations, But EPS Beats Celgene, meanwhile, reported Q1 sales of $2.51 billion, a 21% gain on last year’s Q1 but almost $60 million below consensus. On the other hand, EPS beat estimates by five cents, rising 23% to $1.32. Celgene added 10 cents to its full-year earnings guidance, now $5.60-$5.70 a share, and raised the low end of its product-sales guidance to $10.75 billion-$11 billion. However, it trimmed its 2017 guidance to account for foreign-exchange headwinds. It now expects sales of $12.7 billion to $13 billion, vs. $13 billion-$14 billion previously. Celgene also cut its EPS target to $6.75-$7.00 from $7.25. The company affirmed its previously issued 2020 guidance. Celgene stock dropped in early trading but was up more than 2%, above 108, by early afternoon Thursday. Wall Street had anticipated the 2017 guidance cut. “Investors will be looking for an update on 2017 guidance following the $700 million to $800 million FX headwind on top-line revenues mentioned on their 4Q 2015 call,” wrote Evercore ISI analyst Mark Schoenebaum in a preview note Wednesday. “Celgene neither revised nor reaffirmed 2017 guidance at that time and may provide an update to their current guidance.” On the conference call with analysts Thursday, Celgene’s management said that on a constant-currency basis, financials are tracking to hit their original targets.

How Facebook Reached A Blowout Quarter And Why It Will Continue

Analysts raised their price targets and heaped praise on Faceboo k ( FB ) following its first-quarter earnings report after the close Wednesday that exceeded all expectations. Among stats analysts pointed to was booming growth in mobile advertising. Mobile accounted for 82% of ad revenue at Facebook, up from 80% in Q4 and up from 73% in Q1 2015. During a tough earnings season for tech companies like Apple ( AAPL ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ), and Twitter ( TWTR ), Facebook stood out from the pack. The social-networking leader’s Q1 revenue jumped 52% year over year to $5.38 billion. Earnings per share minus items surged 83% to 77 cents. Growth in the top and bottom lines accelerated for the third consecutive quarter. “Ad growth remains explosive,” wrote Nomura analyst Anthony DiClemente, who raised his price target to 145 from 135. Facebook stock was up 8.5%, near 118, in afternoon trading in the stock market today , and earlier hit a new all-time high above 120. With robust results across all major advertising platforms, Facebook now has 3 million active advertisers, up from 2.5 million in its last update, and has 200,000 on Instagram. Facebook Has ‘Many Growth Levers Left To Pull’ RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney raised his price target to 165 from 160. “Facebook continues to generate very high and very profitable growth, an extremely rare combination,” Mahaney wrote. “And we see in Facebook plenty of strong, secular platform growth ahead, with many growth levers left to pull.” Monthly active users at Faceboook grew 15% year over year to 1.65 billion, the fastest growth rate in two years and accelerating from 14% growth in Q4. “This overall growth rate remains impressive, given Facebook’s massive size,” Mahaney wrote. He noted Facebook’s 1.65 billion users do not include Instagram’s 400 million users, or the 1 billion monthly active users on its WhatsApp messaging platform. Alphabet is the only other global media company with properties above 1 billion, he wrote. FBN Securities analyst Shebly Seyrafi raised his price target on Facebook to 155 from 135. “Having succeeded very well on its transition to mobile, Facebook has many growth drivers ahead,” Seyrafi wrote. This includes Instagram, Messenger, video and its Oculus Rift virtual reality business, with WhatsApp further down the road. Cowen analyst John Blackledge raised his price target on Facebook to 145 from 140. Jefferies analyst Brian Pitz raised his price target to 160 from 145. The Word From Facebook CEO Zuckerberg: Bold In the company’s earnings conference call with analysts, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touched on some of the opportunities ahead. “Facebook has been built by a series of bold moves,” Zuckeberg said. “And when I look out at the future, I see more bold moves ahead. “A lot of what we’re building today in areas like connectivity, artificial intelligence and virtual and augmented reality may not pay off for years. But they’re important to our mission of connecting the world, and I’m committed to seeing this mission through and to leading Facebook there over the long term,” Zuckerberg said. Among social networking stocks, Facebook earnings towered above those of Twitter. The micro-blog site posted a Q1 revenue miss and gave Q2 revenue guidance well below expectations. Twitter said monthly active users rose to 310 million, up 3% year over year and up from 305 million in Q4. But that marked the ninth straight quarter of slowing year-over-year user growth. LinkedIn ( LNKD ), the networking site for professionals, reports earnings after the close Thursday. LinkedIn saw its stock bomb 44% to a three-year low after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 5, as its Q1 guidance widely missed estimates. The Q1 consensus estimate for LinkedIn is revenue of $828.5 million, up 30% year over year.

PayPal Seen Gaining Market Share After Q1 Earnings Beat

Shares of the self-proclaimed “future of money” payments giant PayPal ( PYPL ) rose Thursday after the company late Wednesday posted Q1 earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street views, as did its sales outlook, earning praise from a number of analysts. PayPal stock was up 2.5% in afternoon trading on the stock market today , above 41 and surpassing a 40.03 buy point, after the earnings beat. Shares have become extended from the lower 38.62 entry. PayPal is an IBD Leaderboard stock with a Composite Rating of 94, where 99 is the highest. IBD Take: PayPal stock has been on a roll, and IBD Stock Checkup can help explain just why. In a research note late Wednesday, RBC Capital Markets analyst Daniel Perlin wrote that the results supported his thesis that the company continues to take market share. Perlin raised his price target on PayPal stock to 46 from 42. Wedbush analyst Gil Luria bumped his price target to 47 from 45. In a research note, Luria wrote that accelerating growth and market share gains — especially in mobile — set PayPal apart from others. The payments space, however, has attracted a bevy of big tech rivals, including Apple ( AAPL ) and Alphabet ‘s ( GOOGL ) Google. “We believe competitive concerns continue to be exaggerated, considering completing solutions have all failed to get through PayPal’s incumbency on both consumer and merchant side for the last two to 10 years,” Luria wrote. BTIG analyst Mark Palmer reiterated his buy rating, saying PayPal is one of the most “direct means by which investors can participate in the rapid global growth of mobile payments and e-commerce.” Palmer said competitive concerns about Apple Pay moving to Safari, Apple’s Web browser — thereby making it simple for shoppers to make purchases with the technology within the browser — would hard to gauge for “some time.” Palmer  wrote that it remains to be seen whether PayPal will be able to make much money from Venmo, its peer-to-peer payments app. But Jefferies analyst Jason Kupferberg said the Venmo pilot — allowing Venmo customers to pay with Venmo at a small number of merchants — was “well received,” and the company plans to accelerate its deployment.