Tag Archives: lnkd

Amazon Earnings Top 5 Things You Need To Know For Thursday

On slate for Thursday are quarterly earnings reports from Amazon ( AMZN ), LinkedIn ( LNKD ), Baidu ( BIDU ) and Gilead Sciences ( GILD ) after the close. Before the market open, investors will get their first look at first-quarter economic growth. Amazon The e-commerce giant is expected to earn 58 cents a share in Q1, swinging to a profit from a 12-cent loss last year. Revenue is projected to climb 23% to $27.99 billion. Last quarter, Amazon fell well short of earnings estimates and came up light on revenue, sending shares down as much as 32% from their high in the following weeks. But its cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, is a bright spot. It hauled in $2.4 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 69% year over year. Shares are flirting with being within the lower boundary of a buy range from a cup-with-handle base with a 603.34 buy point, which it initially broke out of a few weeks ago. Amazon fell 1.7% to 606.57 after falling to 601.28 intraday. LinkedIn The professional social network’s earnings are projected to grow 5% to 60 cents ex items, a sharp drop from the 54% growth that it saw in the prior quarter. Revenue is expected to jump 30% to $828.5 million. Shares dropped 44% on LinkedIn’s last quarterly report, which showed weak Q1 guidance. LinkedIn stock has climbed off of its low, reached in the following days, and is now trading 54% below its 52-week high. Facebook Social networking leader Facebook ( FB ) crushed Q1 earnings and revenue projections late Wednesday, sending shares up 9% in late trade. If Facebook’s positive action continues into Thursday’s session, the stock will likely be in buy range from a cup-with-handle base with a 117.09 buy point. Baidu China Internet giant Baidu is projected to see Q1 EPS ex items fall 11% to 5.96 RMB (92 cents). Revenue is estimated to rise 24% to 15.83 billion RMB ($2.4 billion). Baidu’s mobile ecosystem is strong, according to ITG Research analyst Henry Guo. He said this week that his firm’s data indicates “that Baidu’s Mobile Search app dominates the mobile search market with more than 23% installation penetration among Chinese mobile users, well ahead of its key competitors Sogou Search (1.7%) and Qihoo 360 Technology ( QIHU ) Search (0.2%).” Baidu is trading just below buy range from a cup-with-handle base that it broke out of recently. It’s trading 13% below its 52-week high. Gilead Sciences The biotech’s earnings are estimated to rise 6% to $3.13 a share, slower than last quarter’s 37% growth. Revenue is seen rising 7% to $8.1 billion, also a deceleration from the prior quarter. Comparisons are getting tougher after Gilead earnings and sales skyrocketed on hepatitis C treatments. Gilead retook its 200-day line last week but breached that level in Wednesday’s session. Shares are trading 18% below their 52-week high. Fellow big-cap biotech Amgen ( AMGN ) also reports quarterly results Thursday, with analysts expected a 5% EPS gain. Amgen, which fell 1.1% to 161 on Thursday is near a buy point at 165.33 in cup-shaped base. Before the market open, biotechs Alexion Pharmaceuticals ( ALXN ) and Celgene ( CELG ) report, along with big pharma Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY ) and AbbVie ( ABBV ) makes a rival hepatitis C treatment. Q1 GDP After Q4’s OK but not great 1.4% gain, coupled with ongoing issues regarding a strong dollar, weak energy sector and sluggish manufacturing, weak growth is expected in Q1. Wall Street expects a scant 0.7% annualized gain.

Will LinkedIn Avoid Another Stock-Gutting With Q1 Earnings?

LinkedIn ( LNKD ) 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. In the conference call that followed, LinkedIn acknowledged that a reshuffling of product strategy will impact short-term revenue growth in favor of the long term. Perhaps the most startling announcement was that LinkedIn will shutter a business called Lead Accelerator. That decision cut the company’s 2016 revenue forecast by $50 million, as analysts slashed their price targets on LinkedIn stock. Shares have since regained 11% of that decline, though LinkedIn stock was down 2.5%, near 119, in afternoon trading in the stock market today . Shares have a long way to go to get back near former levels. LinkedIn is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings after the market close Thursday. The consensus estimate for the networking site for professionals is revenue of $828.5 million, up 30% year over year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect earnings per share minus items of 60 cents, up 5% but a sharp drop from growth of 54% in the prior quarter. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney has a sector perform rating on LinkedIn, with a price target of 156. The Lead Accelerator business had been created out of LinkedIn’s $175 million acquisition of Bizo in July 2014. The technology focuses on boosting the ability of marketers to target prospects and had been considered a high-growth opportunity. LinkedIn said the manpower needed to boost Lead Accelerator was not worth the time and effort, and that it was “a higher-than-anticipated demand on resources.” The move did not go over well with analysts, with one calling it a “gigantic mistake.” Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju has an outperform rating on LinkedIn stock and a price target of 176, down from a previous target of 230. “We maintain our outperform rating but do concede that patience will be required for the company to start showing more meaningful catalysts to drive share price appreciation, namely margin expansion,” Ju wrote. Facebook ( FB ) Q1 earnings will come after the close Wednesday. The company soundly beat Q4 earnings expectations on booming mobile ad revenue. Facebook has posted double-digit growth in revenue, year over year, for more than four years — and analysts say another quarter of double-digit revenue growth is coming. The consensus on Facebook revenue is $5.25 billion, up 48%. Analysts expect EPS ex items of 62 cents, also up 48%.

Own Facebook Stock? Here’s Why Snapchat Should Be On Your Radar

Loading the player… Social media stocks Twitter ( TWTR ), Facebook ( FB ) and LinkedIn ( LNKD ) all report quarterly earnings this week, with one analyst saying digital media investors should have privately held Snapchat on their radar “at a minimum.” SunTrust Robinson Humphrey on Monday said that Snapchat’s users are growing, potentially taking away some growth from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Snapchat users also have deeper engagement, which is taking more time away from other platforms. And advertisers are shifting some of their budgets to Snapchat, which puts the advertising revenue of the publicly traded players at risk. SunTrust says Twitter is most at risk from Snapchat’s rise. The disappearing picture app now has a valuation of about $16 billion, while Twitter has a $12 billion market cap. Twitter reports after the close on Tuesday. Analysts see revenue up 39%, while earnings jump 43%. Shares are in an extended downtrend and are trading nearly 60% below their 52-week high. Twitter rose 2.8% intraday. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Facebook is developing a “stand-alone camera app” that could be seen as a rival to Snapchat. The report comes as Facebook’s demographics continue to skew older, while Snapchat — which turned down a $3 billion buyout from Facebook a few years ago — has a strong hold on the teen market. The social networking giant is expected to see earnings and sales rise 48% when it reports after the close on Wednesday. Shares are trading 6% below a cup-with-handle buy point at 117.09. The stock is trying to find support at the 50-day line for a third straight session, but it’s just below that level intraday on the stock market today  as it falls a fraction. Meanwhile, LinkedIn reports Thursday. Earnings are projected to rise 5%, much slower than the 54% bottom-line growth seen last quarter. The stock is trading more than 50% below its 52-week high. LinkedIn climbed 2.5% Tuesday.