Should we just declare today a national holiday?
We might as well call it Quarterly Results Day, since so many companies have published their latest fundamentals. We don't have the real estate to cover every one that delivered their figures after the market closed, but at least we can provide the numbers for three market heavyweights.
Image source: Tesla
Facebook Q2 beats revenue, EPS projections
Facebook (FB 1.79%) announced its Q2 results just after the close of the market today.
For the quarter, the social media giant booked revenue of $16.89 billion, a 28% improvement on a year-over-year basis. This was on the back of a sturdy rise in advertising revenue, which increased at the same rate. However, GAAP net income fell dramatically to $2.6 billion ($0.91 per share) from the year-ago tally of $5.1 billion.
The bottom-line figure is affected by accounting for part of the $5 billion fine the company must pay the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as part of a settlement over its user privacy measures and other one-offs. On a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis, Facebook's net profit was $1.99 per share.
On average, analysts had been estimating $16.51 billion on the top line and $1.88 in adjusted EPS.
In addition to those beats, Facebook investors will surely be cheered by key operational metrics, which continue to rise notably. For instance, its monthly active users count was a bit over 2.1 billion, an 8% year-over-year increase.
There's little reason to think Facebook's popularity will wane; ditto for its leading photo-sharing site Instagram or messaging channel WhatsApp. On the down side, the company admitted that it's still in front of two government investigations, one by the persistent FTC, and another by the Department of Justice.
Facebook can absorb the existing $5 billion settlement with the FTC, but the fact that it's a target of another two reviews by these powerful bodies is cause for concern.
That said, investors seem to be slightly more impressed by the financials than spooked by the increased federal oversight. Facebook's share price is up 1% after the market close this evening.
Tesla Q2 falls short
On the other hand, we have volatile Tesla (TSLA +3.87%). The next-gen car maker also reported its Q2 after market hours, and it was no Facebook.
That's because its headline fundamentals didn't meet estimates. Revenue for the quarter was $6.35 billion, 59% higher on a year-over-year basis. Adjusted net loss narrowed, to $198 million ($1.12 per share) from the Q2 2018 result of $520 million ($3.06).
Tesla took pains to mention that it broke quarterly records for both number of vehicles produced, and those delivered. The count for these was 95,356 and 87,048, respectively.
Yet those financials fell short of analyst expectations. Prognosticators were collectively modeling $6.47 billion on the top line, and a per-share net loss of only $0.39.
Tesla offered only a few details regarding guidance. It reiterated its goal of increasing production figures; it aims to make 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles this year. It reduced its projection for this year's capital expenditures, to $1.5 billion to $2.0 billion. It had previously estimated $2.0 billion to $2.5 billion.
Investors aren't happy with Tesla's latest and not-so-greatest. They're driving down the company's share price by 9% tonight.
Ford's Q2 is mixed
Tesla wasn't the only famous automobile manufacturer issuing a disappointing quarterly bottom-line number.
Ford (F 2.19%), which unveiled its own Q2 results after market close, posted revenue that was down marginally on a year-over-year basis, at $38.85 billion. Adjusted net profit rose slightly, to $1.14 billion ($0.28 per share).
That was a good news/bad news scenario. On average, analysts were projecting $35.07 billion in revenue. But they had anticipated $0.31 per share in net profit.
Although Ford reported some operational wins for the quarter, as expected it took hits from restructuring efforts and rollouts of new models.
The market isn't taking this particularly well. Ford's share price is off by nearly 6% tonight.
