CFRA Reiterates Buy Rating On Shares Of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

/ / Financials /

CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows: We think GS is an attractive constituent in the financial sector given our view of a rebound in the capital markets, and the firm’s franchise strength in asset management. We raise our target by $20 to $450 using a forward P/E of 11.8x, a wider risk premium than the three-year historic average at 10.4x. We lift our 2024 EPS estimate by $3.60 to $38.00 and 2025’s by $2.15. GS posted Q1 EPS of $11.58, $2.94 above consensus, and revenue rose 16% Y/Y. Our revenue forecast is $51.8B in 2024 and $53.9B in 2025. Global Banking & Markets (18% ROE) delivered 15% Y/Y revenue growth, with significantly higher debt underwriting (+38% Y/Y), equity underwriting (+45%), and advisory (+24%). Outsize growth in the segment was seen in both equities […]

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Salesforce May Face Integration Challenges With Prospective Acquisition of Informatica, RBC Says

/ / Technology /

Salesforce’s (CRM) prospective acquisition of Informatica (INFA) may present integration challenges for the customer service software company, RBC Capital Markets said in a report sent Monday. “While we understand the potential strategic rationale and messaging, we are mixed on the deal overall, especially given the size,” the brokerage said. RBC said bringing together Infomatica and Salesforce’s earlier acquisitions such as MuleSoft and Tableau and its Data Cloud business may prove challenging for Salesforce, it said. “We recognize the difficulty of integrating all of these services and question the necessity of Salesforce owning Informatica, versus partnering,” it said. RBC said the reported talks to acquire Informatica, which offers enterprise cloud data management and data integration services, remain unsubstantiated, adding it has no knowledge of any potential deal. The firm maintained its outperform rating on CRM and price target of $350 following the reports. Salesforce shares were more than 5% lower in

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Citigroup Likely to See Earnings Upside on Progress in ‘Bending The Cost Curve,’ Oppenheimer Says

/ / Financials /

Citigroup (C) could surpass market expectations on earnings in the coming year or two after making progress in its cost-cutting program, Oppenheimer said in a note Monday. “While Citi has some headwinds to earnings we think that expectations have been beaten down so low, and progress on expenses sufficient that we think the probabilities are very high that they will beat street expectations in the coming year or two,” Oppenheimer analysts Chris Kotowski and Kevin Tripp said. After a long period of guiding that the “cost curve” would “bend” between Q3 and Q4 of 2024, the management effectively said it had bent already and that costs would be sequentially lower from here for the next few quarters, the analysts said. “There is significant upside to this level of earnings over the next 2-3 years,” they said. Oppenheimer trimmed its price target to $87 from $88 while keeping its outperform rating.

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US Media Networks Likely to See Another Soft Quarter in Q1, Macquarie Says

/ / Telecommunications /

US media networks are expected to see another soft quarter in Q1 but there could be an improvement in linear TV ad revenue and modest gains in direct-to-consumer, Macquarie said in a note to clients Monday. “We anticipate an uninspiring Q1 reporting season from the five media network groups under coverage,” the firm said. Macquarie said it expects “stagnating” revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for Comcast (CMCSA). The company’s broadband subscribers remain under pressure and it faces tough comparisons in film and parks, according to the note. Walt Disney’s (DIS) proxy fight is over but Macquarie said it doesn’t see much change in the financial outlook, while Fox’s (FOX) fiscal 2024 estimates look weak on comparison and timing. Paramount (PARA) is expected to strike a merger with Skydance Media soon and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will not see a good start in Q1, according to the

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JPMorgan’s Post-Q1 Slump Likely Short-Lived, Oppenheimer Analysts Say

/ / Financials /

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) can likely recover soon from Friday’s 6.5% share-price decline, with the company’s strengths in consumer, commercial and institutional banking overcoming disappointment caused by missing consensus calls on a handful of Q1 internal metrics, Oppenheimer analysts wrote Monday. Given its Q1 results appeared to be a “solid beat” on both the top and bottom lines, the Oppenheimer analysts they could not really explain why JPMorgan fell Friday. They reiterated their outperform rating for the company’s stock but tweaked their price target for JPMorgan shares, lowering it to $217 from $219, largely because of changes “in the market multiple, as our 2025 estimates are nearly unchanged,” they wrote. The analysts said the primary risks for JPMorgan and its share price were credit quality and interest rates as well as potential legal and regulatory issues. The bank, like most of its peers, has significantly reduced its risk profile, although if

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Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Rises in Sustainment Costs, Planned Use Declines, GAO Says

/ / Industrials /

Lockheed Martin’s (LMT) F-35 fighter jets have risen in sustainment costs, about 44% to $1.58 trillion in 2023 from $1.1 trillion in 2018, the US Government Accountability Office said in a report Monday. Despite the increase in projected costs, the US Department of Defense plans to use less of the jets due to reliability issues and the fleet’s overall availability, which has “trended downward considerably” over the past five years, the report said. The DOD currently has about 630 F-35s in its fleet and plans to buy another 2,500 by the mid-2040s. The GAO said it had made 43 recommendations to the DOD since 2014 to improve the fleet’s operation and sustainment, but an overwhelming majority of them were yet to be implemented. The recommendations include improving the F-35 program’s management of spare parts and reassessing government and contractor responsibility for different aspects of the fleet.

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Goldman Sachs (GS) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference

/ / Financials /

The following is a summary of the The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript: Financial Performance: The Goldman Sachs Group reported net revenues of $14.2 billion and net earnings of $4.1 billion in Q1 2024, resulting in earnings per share of $11.58. The common equity tier-1 ratio stood at 14.7% at the end of the first quarter, with the company returning $2.4 billion to shareholders, including common stock repurchases of $1.5 billion and common stock dividends of $929 million. The total loan portfolio at quarter-end was $184 billion, with a provision for credit losses of $318 million. The company’s Global Banking & Markets division generated revenues of $9.7 billion in Q1, resulting in an 18% return on equity. Asset & Wealth Management division’s revenues stood at $3.8 billion, marking an 18% YoY increase. Business Progress: Goldman Sachs experienced a revival in new issue market access in

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Google and Potential AWS Deals Showcase Reddit’s Critical Role in AI and Brand Strategy: Analysts

/ / Technology /

Needham analyst Laura Martin initiated coverage on Reddit Inc (NYSE:RDDT) with a Buy rating and a price target of $55. Reddit emphasizes the growing value of its extensive library of human conversations for training large language models (LLMs) and brand “social listening,” as per Martin. The platform’s 18-year collection of daily updated conversations across 1.2 million topics and 7.5 million comments, according to the analyst, positions Reddit as a prime resource for understanding diverse human dialogues and popular expressions. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google’s $200 million deal with Reddit for data access underscores the potential for data licensing revenue, with OpenAI and several Amazon.Com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) Amazon Web Services LLMs expected to follow suit due to the indispensable nature of Reddit’s data for LLM development, Martin said. She stated that Reddit’s unique data offers significant pricing power for GenAI applications by facilitating a nuanced understanding of language evolution and current terminologies. Unlike alternative sources, Reddit’s real-time human conversations

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