From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Amazon Tumbles on Earnings: The e-commerce giant's shares took a tumble on a mixed earnings report this week. Amazon ($AMZN) reported earnings per share of $5.22, missing the expectations of $5.57. Although the $63.4 billion in revenue beat the expected $62.48 billion, growth for Amazon has decelerated in recent quarters, down to about 17 percent growth in the first quarter compared with 20 and 40 percent gains in previous years. Still, the company boasted that its Prime Day event eclipsed sales on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, and its cloud tech product, Amazon Web Services, reported sales of $8.38 billion, a 37 percent jump from the previous year. See more.
Alphabet Beats Expectations: Google parent Alphabet ($GOOGL) saw its shares surge on the report that it secured revenues of $39 billion this quarter, beating analyst expectations of about $38 billion and showing 19 percent growth over the same time last year. Ahead of the positive report, analysts had expressed concerns about potential regulations on large technology companies, including Alphabet, after the $5 billion antitrust fine Google received last year from the European Union. Analysts have noted the uptick in the cost of traffic acquisition reported this year since Google gets 80 percent of its revenue from advertising. See more.
Facebook Earnings Ease Record Fine Fears: Wednesday was a rollercoaster ride for social media giant Facebook ($FB). The company started the day with the official announcement that the Federal Trade Commission was levying a record $5 billion penalty for its repeated missteps over consumer privacy. Not only that, the company settled for another $100 million in the SEC investigation over its handling of user data. But the tides turned just hours later. After the bell, stocks jumped as the company’s Q2 earnings report showed stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue. Total revenue rose about 28 percent to $16.9 billion, topping estimates of $16.51 billion. Profit also beat Wall Street's expectations, coming in at an adjusted $1.99 a share. See more.
Earnings Miss Sinks Tesla: Tesla ($TSLA) reported weaker than expected second quarter revenues and slimmer margins than analysts had hoped for, plunging the stock price down 10 percent on Wednesday. The electric carmaker posted a loss per share of $1.12 on revenue of $6.35 billion, despite analyst expectations of a loss of 40 cents on $6.41 billion. Tesla also reported a quarterly automotive gross margin of 19 percent, lower than some analysts were hoping for. Since July 2, shares had been coasting on news that second quarter delivery numbers were among the strongest for the company to-date. See more.
Boeing Worst Earnings Loss ー Ever: Embattled aerospace company Boeing ($BA) reported a loss of $2.9 billion in the second quarter, more bad news stemming from the worldwide grounding of the 737 MAX fleet. Revenues also sank precipitously to $15.75 billion, a 35 percent drop. The heavy losses come after Boeing announced last week that it took a $4.9 billion charge to compensate airlines for having to cancel thousands of flights with the 737 MAXs out of commission. The fallout from the technical issues that have plagued the 737 MAX and led to two crashes that killed more than three hundred people, will cost Boeing $5.6 billion just in the second quarter alone. The aerospace giant told investors it's considering slowing or halting 737 MAX production if it fails to receive regulatory approval by the end of the year.
