Consumer Discretionary

CFRA Keeps Buy Opinion On Shares Of Airbnb, Inc

We cut our 12-month target price to $170 from $188, on an above-peer P/E of 32x our 2025 view. We lift our 2024 EPS view to $4.67 from $4.61 and cut 2025’s to $5.30 from $5.36. ABNB posted Q1 adj. EBITDA of $424M vs. $262M, beating the $326M consensus. Revenue rose 18%, underpinned by a 12% increase in GBV. Top-line strength was driven by a 10% rise in Nights/Experiences booked to $133M, reflecting sustained vigor in travel demand and the favorable timing of Easter. Revenue was further driven by higher take rates and steady supply growth of 17%. Geographically, performance was mixed, with NA and EMEA remaining stable, while Latin America and Asia Pacific exhibited strong bookings growth of 19% and 21%, respectively. Looking ahead, we anticipate a moderation in nights growth across the industry, but expect ABNB to gain market share through new offerings like Icons, Group Trips, and […]

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Uber on Course for Long-Term Growth Despite Recent Potholes, BofA Securities Says

Uber Technologies (UBER) topped Wall Street expectations on most measures when it reported its Q1 results earlier this week and the ride-hailing company is poised to to catch up and eventually surpass many of its peers over the next year and beyond, BofA Securities said Thursday in a research note. Uber took a 6% hit during Wednesday trading after reporting an unexpected Q1 net loss, but the BoA analysts hardly mentioned the earnings miss, instead focusing on metrics like bookings, revenue and free cash flow growth. By those measures, the company was rolling along well, they said, writing Thursday Uber shares are now “attractively valued.” BoA Securities also lowered its price target for Uber shares to $87 from $91 previously to reflect a small discount for the company to the so-called FANG stocks – Facebook (META); Amazon.com (AMZN); Netflix (NFLX) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) – setting the pace for consumer-oriented

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Airbnb’s Revenue Growth Likely to Accelerate in Second Half, Wedbush Says

Airbnb’s (ABNB) revenue growth is likely to accelerate in the second half of this year, though higher marketing expenses are likely to affect profitability, Wedbush said in a note Thursday. The firm said a “modestly higher” marketing expense, which is one of the reasons behind the company’s lower-than-expected EBITDA guidance for Q2, is likely to persist through yearend. Airbnb’s Q2 revenue guidance of $2.68 billion to $2.74 billion is also seen as modestly below analyst estimates and implying slower-than-expected room night growth and slight margin compression, it said. “We think the room night guidance may ultimately prove conservative and note that bookings in [Q2] are likely back-half weighted and build through the quarter into the beginning of the peak summer travel season,” Wedbush said. According to Wedbush, the company is seeing bookings for stays in Q3 outpacing last year, resulting in a backlog that is expected to drive accelerating revenue

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Warner Bros. Discovery Sees Wider-Than-Expected 1Q Loss

Warner Bros. Discovery is one of the most mentioned companies in the U.S. across all news items in the past 12 hours, according to Factiva data. Warner Bros. Discovery posted a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss and revenue that fell short of estimates. The company had a loss of $966 million, or 40 cents a share, narrower than the loss of $1.069 billion, or 44 cents a share, posted in the year-earlier period. Revenue fell to $9.958 billion from $10.700 billion. The FactSet consensus was for a loss of 20 cents and revenue of $10.223 billion. Dow Jones & Co. owns Factiva.

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CFRA Keeps Hold Opinion On Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

We think more work is needed to turn WBD around. We cut our target $0.50 to $8.50 on a forward TEV/EBITDA of 6.1x our ’24 EBITDA estimate of $9.9B, below peers. We lower our ’24 LPS to -$0.75 (-$0.50) and keep our ’25 EPS at $0.15; our respective revenue forecasts are $41.1B (prior $41.6B) and $42.2B ($42.5B). WBD posted a LPS of -$0.40, a wider loss than consensus. WBD will partner with Disney (DIS 105 ***) on a shared Direct to Consumer (DTC) platform for MAX, Disney+, and Hulu to drive revenue sharing, reduce customer churn, and remove middlemen like Roku (ROKU 59 ***) or Apple TV. DTC realized $86M adj. EBITDA and flat revenue Y/Y with advertising +70%, flat distribution, and content -46%. MAX’s domestic unit had 52.7M subs (+700K Q/Q) and ARPU of $11.72 vs. $11.65, while international had 46.9M subs (+1.3M) with ARPU of only $3.75 vs.

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McDonald’s Makes Digital Funding Shifts

McDonald’s is trying to make more uniformity across its system, and says it’s taking a global approach to how its app and other digital systems are funded by franchisees in the U.S. and four other countries next year. U.S. franchisees will pay a percentage of their digital sales for the app and other services, while McDonald’s says it will invest in new digital products and functions, the company says in a message viewed by WSJ. Restaurants increasingly rely on digital sales, as they are more efficient and allow for targeted marketing to consumers.

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Warner Bros. Discovery Q1 2024 GAAP EPS $(0.40) Misses $(0.27) Estimate, Sales $9.958B Miss $10.231B Estimate

Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) reported quarterly losses of $(0.40) per share which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $(0.27) by 48.15 percent. The company reported quarterly sales of $9.958 billion which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $10.231 billion by 2.67 percent. This is a 6.93 percent decrease over sales of $10.700 billion the same period last year.

Warner Bros. Discovery Q1 2024 GAAP EPS $(0.40) Misses $(0.27) Estimate, Sales $9.958B Miss $10.231B Estimate Read Post »

Warner Bros. Discovery First-Quarter Results Miss Views, Led by Revenue Declines in Networks, Studio Units

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) on Thursday posted a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss, amid revenue declines in the media and entertainment giant’s studios and networks segments. The company’s per-share net loss came in at $0.40 for the March quarter, compared with a $0.44 per-share loss the year before. The consensus on Capital IQ was for a loss of $0.21 per share. The result included a $1.88 billion pretax acquisition-related amortization charge and restructuring expenses. Revenue declined to $9.96 billion from $10.7 billion last year, missing the Street’s view for $10.22 billion. The stock fell 3.8% in recent premarket trading. Warner Bros., which operates the Max streaming service, saw direct-to-consumer revenue remain nearly flat at $2.46 billion. Global subscribers rose to 99.6 million from 98.5 million year-on-year and from 97.7 million in the previous three-month period. “We delivered meaningful growth in our streaming business with a nice acceleration in ad sales,” Chief Executive

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Uber CEO Says Instacart Deal Brings In High-Quality Suburban Audience

Uber’s new partnership with Instacart, which allows customers to order Uber Eats-fetched food via the Instacart app, adds a “very high-quality and highly targeted suburban audience” to the Uber Eats ecosystem and for the company’s merchants, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says on a call with analysts. The additional demand from these new high-end consumers is going to be welcomed by the merchants and increase penetration with Dominos and other merchants in the suburbs, the CEO says. Shares slide 6% to $66.21.

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Uber Says Bookings Growth Impacted by Pricing, Currency Concerns

Uber’s gross bookings, or the value of transactions on its app, were up 20% at $37.65B in 1Q but missed analyst projections. The number of app users increased 15% during the quarter and frequency of use increased 6%, but pricing was relatively flat, CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah says on a call with analysts, adding that the company expects to see similar trends in 2Q. Uber’s 2Q guidance includes a 5 percentage point headwind to gross bookings in its ride-hailing business from forex changes related to the Argentine peso, the CFO says.

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Uber Technologies’ Underlying Business ‘Healthy’ Despite Mixed Q1 Results, Wedbush Says

Uber Technologies’ (UBER) underlying business continues to be “healthy,” even as the ride-hailing company posted mixed Q1 financial results, Wedbush Securities said Wednesday. The company’s Q1 net loss widened year-over-year to $0.32 per share from $0.08 per share, while revenue grew 15% to $10.13 billion. Analysts polled by Capital IQ expected EPS of $0.22 on revenue of $10.09 billion. The company’s shares were down over 7% in recent trading. “We think investor expectations have gotten ahead of the stock following the company’s analyst day in mid-February,” Wedbush analysts, including Daniel Ives, said in a note. Markets and investors likely also overlooked recent currency headwinds, they said. Wedbush reiterated its outperform rating on the Uber stock, saying the company continues to be “the dominant global mobility and delivery platform with multiple drivers of long-term growth.”

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CFRA Maintains Buy Opinion On Shares Of Uber Technologies, Inc.

We cut our 12-month target to $81 from $93 on a P/E of 35x our 2025 EPS (18x our 2025 FCF). We cut our 2024 EPS to $1.00 from $2.22 and 2025’s to $2.32 from $3.63. Gross bookings grew 20%, led by strong growth in Mobility (+26%) and Delivery (+18%). Trips grew 21%, driven by a 15% rise in MAPC and a 6% uptick in frequency (trips/MAPC). Despite top-line strength, net loss widened to $654M (LPS of $0.31 vs. $0.08) due to a $72M unrealized loss from equity investment reevaluation. Yet, UBER demonstrated operating leverage, with 82% growth in adj-EBITDA to $1.4B and $4.2B trailing-12-month FCF generation. Key growth drivers include UberOne’s 45% penetration of delivery of gross bookings, new affordable offerings like Moto and Xshare for volume, and grocery growth. We also like Instacart’s partnership expanding consumer reach, complementing geographic expansion and multi-product portfolio. UBER’s geographic expansion, new user

CFRA Maintains Buy Opinion On Shares Of Uber Technologies, Inc. Read Post »