Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, and Verizon: Stock Market Weekly Digest (23-27 October)
27.10.2023
4 minutes for reading
Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Verizon Communications Inc. were in the spotlight this week. Let’s find out how their stocks reacted to the latest developments.
Alphabet stock declines following the Q3 2023 report
US tech giant Alphabet Inc. announced its Q3 2023 results on Tuesday 24 October. Revenue for July to September rose 11% to 76.69 billion USD from the same period of 2022, and net profit increased by 41.55% to 19.69 billion USD or 1.55 USD per share.
Quarterly Google services revenue added 10.77%, reaching 67.99 billion USD, and Google Cloud service earned 8.41 billion USD, up 22.47%. Analysts forecasted the latter to stand at 8.6 billion USD. With the focus on the AI technology race, the market closely monitored the cloud segment revenue of Alphabet Inc.
On 25 October, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) stock closed a trading session, dropping 9.51% to 125.61 USD per unit probably because the indicator fell short of the forecast. Even a significant increase in quarterly revenue and net profit could not improve the situation with the quotes tumbling another 2.65% to 122.28 USD on 26 October.
Microsoft stock rose following the FY24 Q1 report
Another big tech company, Microsoft Corporation, released financial statements on Tuesday. The company reported its Q1 fiscal 2024 results. Revenue for July to September showed an increase of 12.79% to 56.52 billion USD, and net profit rose 26.97% to 22.29 billion USD or 2.99 USD per share.
Service and other revenue gained 19.20% in Q1 fiscal 2024, reaching 40.98 billion USD, while product revenue decreased by 1.31%, down to 15.56 USD. It is worth noting that Microsoft Cloud revenue for July to September was up 24% to 31.8 billion USD, surpassing experts’ expectations of 31.19 billion USD, unlike Google Cloud revenue.
In addition, Microsoft Corporation returned 9.1 billion USD to shareholders as share repurchases and dividends in Q1 fiscal 2024. Following the release of the quarterly results, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) shares climbed 3.07% on 25 October, reaching 340.67 USD. However, on 26 October, they fell 3.75% to close at 327.89 USD per share.
Q3 2023 report pushed Verizon shares up
US telecommunications provider Verizon Communications Inc. published the Q3 2023 report on 24 October. Revenue for July to September decreased by 2.6%, down to 33.34 billion USD in line with the forecast provided by analysts in a FactSet survey. Equipment revenue sank by 0.5% to 5.81 billion USD, and service revenue dropped by 11.6% to 27.52 billion USD.
The net profit of Verizon Communications Inc. for Q3 2023 fell 2.8% to 4.88% billion USD or 1.13 USD per share. On average, experts expected the figure to stand at 1.18 USD per share.
At the same time, the number of Verizon Communications Inc. subscribers for July to September 2023 has seen an increase of 21% from the previous year, reaching 10.3 million people. The management expects the annual adjusted EPS to be 4.55-4.85 USD. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) stock reacted positively to the release of the earnings report, rising 9.27% to 34.30 USD per share on the same day.
Meta’s CFO statement on the Q3 2023 results hit the stock
Meta Platforms Inc. released the Q3 2023 report on Wednesday 25 October. Revenue for July to September increased by 23.21% to 34.15 billion USD, and net profit skyrocketed by 163.55%, reaching 11.58 billion USD or 4.39 USD per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet estimated the company’s earnings at an average of 3.64 USD per share and revenue at 33.6 billion USD.
Facebook daily active users (DAU) reached 2.09 billion in Q3, showing an increase of 5%. Monthly active users (MAU) were 3.05 billion, an increase of 3%. Meta Platforms Inc. expects Q4 revenue of 36.5-40 billion USD with the experts’ consensus forecast of 38.8 billion USD.
At the same time, Chief Financial Officer Susan Li said on the Q3 earnings conference call that following the escalation of a military conflict in the Middle East, activity in the ad market declined considerably, creating additional uncertainty and volatility for the company in the present reporting period.
Following the CFO’s statement, Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) stock value plunged 4.17% to 299.53 USD per share on 25 October despite robust quarterly statistics. On 26 October, the stock tumbled another 3.73% to 288.35 USD.
Summing up
Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Verizon Communications Inc. published their quarterly earnings reports this week. After the release of the results for July to September 2023, the stocks of the first two corporations declined while the shares of the other two went up.
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