Google starts paying out
Several big tech names made waves this week, but for very different reasons.
Tech earnings highlights
All amounts in U.S. dollars.
- Alphabet (GOOGL/NASDAQ): Earnings per share came in at $1.89 (versus $1.51 predicted) on revenues of $80.54 billion (versus $78.59 billion predicted).
- Microsoft (MSFT/NASDAQ): Earnings per share of $2.94 (versus $2.82 predicted), and revenues of $61.86 billion (versus $60.80 predicted).
- Meta/Facebook (META/NASDAQ): Earnings per share coming in at $4.71 (versus $4.32 predicted) and revenues of $36.46 billion (versus $36.16 predicted).
- IBM (IBM/NYSE): Earnings per share of $1.68 (versus $1.60 predicted) and revenues of $14.46 billion (versus $14.55 billion predicted).
Alphabet crushed earnings and revenues on Thursday, sending shares up 14% in after-hours trading. Perhaps the biggest news was that Alphabet revealed it would be rewarding shareholders not only with a $70-billion stock buyback, but also the company’s first-ever dividend. The dividend will be $0.20 and the company intends to make it a quarterly payout.
While not as overwhelming as Alphabet’s announcement, Microsoft also had a solid earnings day on Thursday. Shares rose 5% on earnings announcement. Total revenue was up 17% year over year, highlighted by 31% growth in cloud services.
Meta had been enjoying a great run so far this year, but the good times were rudely interrupted by Wednesday’s earnings announcement. With its earnings per share and revenues news, you would think the market reaction would be fairly muted. Instead, the stock was down more than 16% in after-hours trading on a reduced revenue forecast for the rest of the year. The $3.5-billion loss on its Reality Labs unit (tasked with building the metaverse) continues to frustrate investors.
IBM shares were also down this week after announcing earnings and revenues. Shares were down 9% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after a lukewarm earnings statement, despite the announcement of a mega $6.4 billion takeover of HashiCorp.
Canadian railway investors get bumpy ride
It was a rough first quarter for Canada’s two large railways. Both stocks were down about 5% in Wednesday’s early trading after announcing earnings in line with expectations.
Rail earnings highlights
Here’s what was released this week.
The slight drop in revenues and earnings was largely the result of port congestion and decreased cargo loads due to militants in Yemen creating Red Sea shipping lane issues. Since mid-December, hundreds of vessels have been rerouted around the horn of Africa, resulting in large delays at the Port of Halifax.
The Vancouver port also experienced difficulties, with German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd telling its customers, “All marine terminals in Vancouver continue to manage through heavy congestion, resulting from an inadequate supply of rail cars from major Class 1 railways.”
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