The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Facebook, Tesla, Ford and PayPal

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL –July 25, 2019 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Facebook FB, Tesla TSLA, Ford F and PayPal PYPL.

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

Facebook (FB) Shakes Off FTC Ruling with Q2 Beat, Plus More

Facebook has shaken off this morning’s FTC ruling where user privacy violations has brought about a $5 billion fine and certified compliance demands for CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and posted a solid beat on top and botttom lines in its Q2 earnings report: $1.99 per share outpaced the Zacks consensus by 9 cents, while revenues of $16.89 billion surpassed the $16.45 billion expected (which itself represented 24% growth year over year). This marks only the third time in the last five quarters Facebook has posted a positive earnings surprise.

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) grew higher than expected at $7.05 per, easily topping the $6.87 estimate. Daily Average Users (DAU) is now up to 1.59 billion, also better than anticipated. The $5 billion to the FTC is counted as a one-time item — and $2 billion higher than the company expected — but looks to be a mere flesh wound from this viewpoint. Shares are up 3% in after hours, nearing +60% year to date. For more on FB’s earnings, click here.

Tesla has now put up negative earnings surprises in four of its last five quarters, with a big miss on its bottom line: -$1.12 per share was more than double the -54 cents analysts were expecting. Revenues also came up short at $6.35 billion, beneath the $6.38 billion estimated. Guidance on deliveries for the year have not been taken down — 360K-400K are still expected in FY19 — and Q2 deliveries reached 95,356 exactly.

Gross margins at 18.9% disappointed both year over year and quarter over quarter; analysts were still looking for 20+%. Tesla had record sales in the quarter and still posted a wide miss on the bottom line. This is the main reason shares are down 8% in late trading.

Ford missed on its Q2 bottom line, posting 28 cents per share versus the 30 cents expected, while sales were much better than predicted at $35.78 billion from the $34.51 billion in the Zacks consensus. One of the original Big Three automakers did swing to positive free cash flow year over year. Shares are trading down in the late market on lowered full-year earnings guidance, with a top range at $1.35 per share. Zacks had had $1.37 prior to this report.

PayPal shares are tumbling following it Q2 release: 72 cents per share on $4.31 billion missed estimates of 75 cents and $4.33 billion, respectively. Both figures are still up solid double digits from the year-ago quarter, though earnings guidance for both Q3 and full-year 2019 are down. Its Venmo business is up 70% year over year, but missed analyst projections by $4 billion to $24 billion in the quarter. Total Payment Volume was pretty much in-line.

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Click to get this free report Facebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis Report PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Ford Motor Company (F) : Free Stock Analysis Report Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research