An investor could have gotten whiplash trying to keep track of all the quarterly results unveiled by companies today. There was no relief after hours, when more than a few reports from big companies came in through the transom.
This is one of those nights when we can't cover every significant company that's reporting. We can take on three of the most major stocks doing so, however. In that spirit, here's the latest from Apple (AAPL +2.77%), Mastercard (MA +1.15%), and Gilead Sciences (GILD +2.19%).
Apple Q3 beats on revenue and EPS
Out of the three stocks in this digest, investors tonight are most excited about Apple. They've bid up the company's shares by 4% so far in after-hours trading.
This is following the release of the company's Q3 results. For the quarter, it booked net sales of $53.8 billion, which was 1% higher on a year-over-year basis. A marginal decline in revenue from products was offset by services, which rose by 13% to nearly $11.5 billion. On average, analysts had been expecting total revenue of $53.3 billion.
On the bottom line, generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) earnings were slightly over $10 billion, or $2.18 per share. Although this represented a 13% year-over-year decline, it topped the $2.09 earnings per share prognosticators were modeling.
Apple investors are likely cheered by the fact that services revenue is a bright growth spot for the company. Additionally, hardware sales aren't eroding as much as some feared (due in no small measure to smartphone saturation) -- the company's lead product by far remains the iPhone.
Apple proffered guidance for its current Q4. The company believes it will post revenue of between $61 billion and $64 billion, with operating expenses ranging from $8.7 billion to $8.8 billion. It did not provide an estimate for net profit.
Image source: Mastercard.
Mastercard Q2 tops analyst EPS estimate
Mastercard also delivered its latest set of figures after the closing bell. The company said its Q2 of fiscal 2019 net revenue was $4.1 billion, up 12% from the $3.7 billion it reaped in the same quarter of 2018. Non-GAAP (adjusted) net profit landed at $1.9 billion ($1.89 per share) for an 11% improvement.
The top-line figure was essentially in line with analyst estimates. Per-share earnings, however, topped the average analyst projection of $1.83.
Mastercard attributed its growth to general global expansion, and to recent acquisitions. It's continuing to keep its shopping bag open -- in March it signed a deal to purchase cross-border money transfer specialist Transfast. Mastercard has also recently entered into several new and expanded partnerships.
Continued growth is expected for all major payment card companies, due to the ever-snowballing global migration away from cash and toward plastic and digital means of commerce. Mastercard has significant global reach, and as such can grow organically in "under-carded" regions.
At the moment, Mastercard stock is basically trading flat in after-market action.
Gilead Sciences' Q2 slips, but beats convincingly
Like Apple, Gilead Sciences notched beats on both the top and bottom lines for its latest reported quarter.
Said quarter, Q2 of fiscal 2019, saw the big pharmaceutical company earn $5.69 billion, up slightly from the $5.65 billion in the same period the previous year. Adjusted net income was $2.3 billion, or $1.82, which was lower than the $2.5 million ($1.91) of Q2 2018.
Yet the two headline figures exceeded analyst expectations. These were for $5.53 billion in revenue and $1.72 for per-share net profit.
The company said that its HIV treatments, particularly Biktarvy, sold well during the quarter. These and other factors motivated Gilead to raise its revenue guidance for the entirety of 2019. For the year, the company anticipates product sales to hit $21.3 billion to $21.8 billion, up from the previous range of $21.6 billion to $22.1 billion.
On the other hand, on the back of its recently announced collaboration with Galapagos NV, Gilead significantly lowered its GAAP EPS estimate. This now stands at $1.40 to $1.50 for the year, from the former assumption of $3.90 to $4.00.
After-hours traders don't seem moved by these numbers. Gilead's share price is up only very slightly tonight.
