Plus, Delta reported a $5.4 billion loss, AMC said it could run out of money by early 2021 as movie theaters continue struggle amid the ongoing coronavirus, and Disney announced a reorganization to focus its media and entertainment business on streaming.
Stocks were lower to start Tuesday with the Dow dipping 80 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 also slid 0.3%, while the Nasdaq hovered just below the flatline.
Earnings season kicked off this morning with two big banks delivering earnings beats. JPMorgan posted third-quarter profit of $9.44 billion, or $2.92 per share, compared to estimates for $2.23 per share. The firm generated revenue of $29.94 billion, beating estimates by $1.5 billion, fueled in part by better-than-projected trading results. JPMorgan’s trading division surged by 30% as fixed income trading operations posted revenue of $4.6 billion and equities trading generated $2 billion in revenue, beating estimates by around $400 million. “The corporate and investment bank continues to be a big driver of firm performance,” said CEO Jamie Dimon in a statement. “We maintained our credit reserves at $34 billion given significant economic uncertainty and a broad range of potential outcomes.” Elsewhere, Citigroup reported earnings per share of $1.40 on revenue of $17.3 billion, beating estimates for earnings per share of $0.93 on revenue of $17.2 billion. “We continue to navigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic extremely well,” said Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat in a statement. “Credit costs have stabilized; deposits continued to increase.”
In not-so-good earnings news, Delta Air Lines posted a $5.4 billion net loss as the coronavirus continues to roil the travel industry. Delta said its revenue dropped 76% year-over-year to $3.06 billion, just shy of analysts’ estimates for revenue of $3.1 billion. The airline said revenues may not normalize for “two years or more.” “While our September quarter results demonstrate the magnitude of the pandemic on our business, we have been encouraged as more customers travel and we are seeing a path of progressive improvement in our revenues, financial results and daily cash burn,” said Delta CEO Ed Bastian in an earnings release. Citigroup analyst Stephen Trent said of the weak results, “Delta’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic looks about as good as any global network carrier could have managed under the circumstances.”
Johnson & Johnson pushed pause on its late-stage coronavirus vaccine trial after a participant reported an “adverse event.” CFO Joseph Wolk said the pause will allow the data and safety monitoring board to investigate the unexplained illness. “We’re letting safety protocol follow proper procedure here,” Wolk said, adding that pauses in trials are “not uncommon.” “We’re going to have to get used to hearing these sorts of reports of pauses,” said Hassan Vally, an associate professor in epidemiology at La Trobe University in Melbourne. “As you vaccinate more people in these trials the chances are that there will be some illnesses in participants. The only difference here is that in the world that we live in right now, the progress of these trials are in the public eye, and so we are riding every bump.”
AMC Entertainment shares are down more than 7% this morning after the movie theater chain said it was in danger of running out of cash by early 2021. In a filing, AMC said a bare movie slate and lackluster attendance amid the coronavirus pandemic has let its business hemorrhaging cash with little hope of recouping losses any time soon. AMC has already renegotiated its debt to improve its balance sheet this year, and has said it is exploring multiple ways of gaining additional sources of liquidity and ways to increase attendance levels, which are down 76% year-over-year. The theater chain is looking into additional debt and equity financing, renegotiating with landlords on lease payments, possible asset sales, a joint-venture with an existing business partner and minority investments in its stock. “There is a significant risk that these potential sources of liquidity will not be realized or that they will be insufficient to generate the material amounts of additional liquidity that would be required until the company is able to achieve more normalized levels of operating revenues,” AMC said.
And Disney shares are up more than 4% today after the mouse house announced a reorganization of its media and entertainment divisions late yesterday. In order to better focus its entertainment on streaming, the company is centralizing its media businesses into a single organization that will be responsible for content distribution, ad sales and Disney+. “Given the incredible success of Disney+ and our plans to accelerate our direct-to-consumer business, we are strategically positioning our Company to more effectively support our growth strategy and increase shareholder value,” said Disney CEO Bob Chapek in a statement announcing the reorganization. “Managing content creation distinct from distribution will allow us to be more effective and nimble in making the content consumers want most, delivered in the way they prefer to consume it.”
Stocks We’re Watching
AutoWeb Inc (NASDAQ: AUTO): AutoWeb shares are up 30% over the last week after the digital marketing platform for automotive dealers and OEMs announced a new strategic relationship with QuinStreet Inc to provide AutoWeb’s visitors with access to QuinStreet’s online car insurance search capabilities and solutions, enabling consumers to easily compare and shop for the best auto insurance policies for the cars they are interested in buying. “As we are constantly evolving our product offerings to support the needs of dealers, OEMs and consumers, we can add real value to the car-buying process by supplying as much relevant information as possible when shoppers research potential purchases,” said Dan Ingle, COO of AutoWeb in a statement. “By seamlessly providing the information shared when requesting vehicle pricing, we are able to facilitate convenient access to QuinStreet’s leading car insurance comparison tool.”