3M Touts New Business Lines; Tepid Guidance Sinks Stock — WSJ

/ / Industrials /

By John Keilman 3M is targeting climate technology, industrial automation and next generation electronics as lucrative new businesses for the materials company as it seeks to push past a wave of costly litigation ( “We’re building on our innovation model,” 3M CEO Mike Roman said in an interview. He called out thermal barriers for electric vehicle batteries as one product line that holds particular promise. Roman talked up 3M’s product development as the Minnesota-based materials company’s growth projections failed to impress investors, who sent the stock plunging more than 11% Tuesday. 3M’s 2024 earnings guidance also came in beneath Wall Street expectations. — Roman said revenue will be hindered in 2024 as 3M exits about 5% of its consumer business in areas where it doesn’t see strong growth prospects. He said that will improve revenue and profit margins in the long term. — 3M, which makes thousands of products from […]

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RTX Corporation (RTX) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript Summary

/ / Industrials /

The following is a summary of the RTX Corporation (RTX) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript: Financial Performance: RTX Corporation reported an 11% organic growth for 2023, with Q4 adjusted sales standing at $19.8 billion, marking a 10% growth from the previous year. The company commands a hefty backlog of $196 billion, hinting at robust future sales and earnings. Adjusted earnings per share was $1.29, 2% up and slightly better than expectations. Commercial aftermarket was up 23%, commercial OE saw a 20% rise, and defense increased by 4%. The company ended the year with a free cash flow of $5.5 billion, surpassing their commitment. RTX returned over $16 billion of capital to shareholders for the year. Their 2024 outlook projects an estimated 7% – 8% year-over-year organic sales growth, bringing the projected total to between $78 billion and $79 billion. Business Progress: Strong global demand for RTX’s products and services in

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P&G Sees Potential Gains From Lower Heavy Discounting in China

/ / Consumer Staples /

The Chinese consumer hasn’t fully recovered yet, but the market is showing some positive signs, P&G CFO Andre Schulten says on a call with analysts. The consumer products goods company sees heavy discounting and key consumption periods decreasing in the Asian giant, Schulten says. This had a temporary impact on P&G’s 2Q metrics, but it moves the company into a healthier position, CEO Jon Moeller says. The near-term is likely to present some challenges in China, but retail partners remain encouraged about the future of China, Moeller adds. Shares rise 4.4% to $154.31.

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Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript Summary

/ / Telecommunications /

The following is a summary of the Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript: Financial Performance: Verizon posted wireless service revenue of $76.7 billion, reflecting a 3.2% increase from last year. Verizon achieved an adjusted EBITDA of $47.8 billion and a strong free cash flow of $18.7 billion. The company raised its dividend for the 17th consecutive year, maintaining a healthy payout ratio of around 59% from its free cash flow. Projections for 2024 suggest a wireless service revenue growth of 2% to 3.5%. The Q4 consolidated revenue was reported at $35.1 billion, indicating a decrease of 0.3% from last year. The total wireless service revenue for Q4 was $19.4 billion, a 3.2% rise YoY. The consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $11.7 billion, falling by 0.6% compared to the prior year. It was reported that the adjusted EPS was $1.08, resulting in a full year adjusted

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Blackstone’s Earnings In Focus: BofA Analyst Estimates In-Line But Sees Improving Outlook

/ / Financials /

BofA Securities analyst Craig Siegenthaler expresses his view on Blackstone Inc‘s (NYSE:BX) upcoming fourth quarter FY23 earnings this Thursday. The analyst expects a more bullish outlook on key fundamental metrics (fundraising, investing, realizations) and stated that the company CEO highlighted six large investment announcements since late fourth-quarter FY23 at Davos last week. The analyst noted that BREIT Fee related performance revenues (FRPR) adjustment following a negative return in December and Blackstone Property Partners (BPP) Life Sciences FRPR removal following a negative return in 4Q23 erased its 9/30/23 net accrued carry, driven by BX real estate FRPR. The analyst expects the near-term EPS revisions to have very little impact on 2025-26 EPS. The analyst writes that fundholders could react to negative quarterly performance following significant redemption improvement through December. However, Siegenthaler expects the improving trajectory to restart by March and for BREIT limits to end by mid-2024. The analyst also expects a very

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The Procter & Gamble Company (PG) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript Summary

/ / Consumer Staples /

The following is a summary of the The Procter & Gamble Company (PG) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript: Financial Performance: Procter & Gamble reported Q2 organic sales growth of 4% aided by strong strategy execution. Pricing contributed to the sales growth with broad growth across eight out of ten product categories. Core earnings per share were $1.84, a 16% increase year-over-year and 18% on a currency neutral basis. The company returned $3.3 billion of cash to share owners through dividends and share repurchase. Due to strong first-half earnings growth, the fiscal 2024 core earnings per share outlook has increased to a range of 8% to 9% growth. P&G plans to repurchase $5 billion to $6 billion in common stock and return $14 billion to $15 billion of cash to share owners in FY 2024. Business Progress: P&G remains confident in its strategic focus areas and will continue to invest in

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United Airlines’ 1Q24 Unit Revenue Outlook Better Than Delta Air: Analyst’s Eyes On Building Blocks For 2024 EPS

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

BofA Securities analyst Andrew G. Didora reiterated a Buy rating on United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL), with a price objective of $56. United Airlines reported fourth-quarter earnings per share of $2.00, versus a $1.70 estimate, and revenue of $13.60 billion, versus $13.54 billion. The first quarter of 2024 unit revenue outlook of flat (or slightly down ex an accounting change) is better than expectations of down around -2% and is better than Delta Air Lines, Inc.’s (NYSE:DAL) flat to -3% outlook, the analyst notes. Per Didora, this likely continues the company’s unit revenue outperformance vs the industry despite what will be greater than industry capacity growth even after adjusting for Boeing Company‘s (NYSE:BA) 737 MAX 9 grounding. Per the analyst, management needs to give investors some confidence in the building blocks to the $9-$11 in 2024 EPS. An accounting change that shifted certain commission costs from a contra-revenue to a distribution cost increased 4Q23 unit

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CFRA Maintains Sell Opinion On Shares Of Verizon Communications Inc.

/ / Telecommunications /

CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows: We raise our 12-month target by $3 to $33, applying an EV/EBITDA multiple of 6.4x to our ’24 estimate, a discount to peers, reflecting our concerns over debt levels and loss of market share to competitors. We trim our ’24 EPS view by $0.05 to $4.58 and set ’25’s at $4.67. VZ reported Q4 operating EPS of $1.08 vs. $1.19, in line with the consensus. Q4 revenue declined 0.3%, driven by a 3.6% drop in the Business segment, due to a 12.1% decline in Wholesale and a 4.9% drop in Enterprise revenue, partially offset by 0.7% growth in the Consumer segment, driven by a 2.6% increase in Service revenue. Total wireless postpaid phone net adds were 449K, with 318K consumer adds and 131K business adds. VZ took

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Lockheed Martin 2024 Guidance Looks Conservative

/ / Industrials /

Lockheed Martin appears to be taking aim at lower targets for the coming year. Vertical Research analysts Robert Stallard and Karl Oehlschlaeger say in a research note that the company’s fiscal 2024 guidance looks cautious, with earnings per share forecasts below consensus estimates. They say Lockheed Martin is likely to face similar headwinds to 2023, including delays in F-35 deliveries and lower margins in its Missiles and Fire Control segment. Despite expectations for strong bookings in the next year, the analysts say there’s not much to get too excited about with the stock. They keep their hold rating. Shares fall 4.9% to $436.17.

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CFRA Keeps Hold Opinion On Shares Of United Airlines Holdings, Inc.

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows: Our 12-month target of $46, down $1, is 4.3x our 2025 EPS view (starting at $10.69; 2024’s cut to $9.08), below UAL’s 2018-2019 historical forward average of 8.4x. We think a discount is merited due to UAL having to ground its 737 MAX 9 aircraft, reducing its total capacity by 8% and causing unit costs to rise. Q4 EPS of $2.00 vs. $2.46 beat consensus by $0.30. Q4 passenger revenues grew 9% Y/Y due to its int’l segment (+18%), while capacity increased 15% Y/Y. For 2024, we believe that UAL could face headwinds with rising unit costs (aside from the 737 MAX 9 groundings) due to new labor agreements, while delays in new aircraft deliveries are hindering UAL from retiring older aircraft and causing maintenance costs to

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United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript Summary

/ / Consumer Discretionary /

The following is a summary of the United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript: Financial Performance: United Airlines’ q4 total revenue increased by 9.9% due to a 14.7% increase in capacity. Pretax income of $4.3 billion in 2023, an improvement of over $3.2 billion compared to 2022. Earnings per share for the year were reported at $10.05, within the initial guidance range and ahead of consensus expectations. The fourth quarter of the fiscal year saw a pretax income of $845 million and earnings per share of $2, which was above the guided range. The reported CASM-ex (cost-per-available-seat-mile) for the fourth quarter increased by 4.9%. The company maintained their net debt to EBITDAR ratio within its target of less than 3 times. However, United Airlines anticipates a loss per share between $0.35 and $0.85 for the first quarter of 2024. Business Progress: Strides made in both domestic and

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