By Davit Kirakosyan
Investing.com -- The unofficial kickoff to earnings season came with a whimper as Alcoa slid on a bottom-line miss. Here are 5 of the biggest earnings stories since yesterday, all first covered on InvestingPro. Sign up to get this news in real time.
Alcoa numbers below consensus
Alcoa (NYSE:AA) shares were trading more than 6% lower pre-market today following the company’s reported Q4 EPS miss. EPS came in at ($0.70), worse than the consensus estimate of ($0.67). This represents its second consecutive quarterly loss, with the company noting that it has tried to lessen the impact caused by unfavorable market conditions throughout the year, including high costs for raw materials and energy, as well as decreased prices for alumina and aluminum.
Revenue was down 7% sequentially to $2.7 billion (vs. consensus of $2.66B), primarily due to lower prices for both alumina and aluminum. The average realized third-party price of alumina/aluminum fell by 8%/10% sequentially.
In 2023, the company expects total alumina shipments, including externally sourced alumina, to be in the range of 12.7 million-12.9 million metric tons, a decrease of 0.5 million metric tons from 2022 due to the partial curtailment of the San Ciprián refinery and lower bauxite quality at the Australian refineries.
Discover and Schwab slip
Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) shares sank after 4Q net charge-offs came in at $581 million, worse than the $554.7 million consensus estimate, and said it expects the figure to rise 3.5%-3.9% for the year vs. the 2.8% consensus. The firm also reported Q4 EPS of $3.77, $0.12 better than the analyst estimate of $3.65.
And Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) shares closed down more than 2% after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 results. EPS came in at $1.07, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09, while revenue was $5.5B, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.56B.
Microsoft Q2 takes a hit
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced a $0.12 negative impact to its diluted EPS in Q2 due to its workforce reduction plan of approximately 10,000 employees (less than 5% of its total employee base) by the end of Q3/23. Shares closed nearly 2% lower yesterday.
Energy Vault surges on higher guidance
Energy Vault Holdings Inc (NYSE:NRGV) shares surged more than 34% yesterday after the company announced updated Q4 and full-year 2022 expected revenue results. The company now expects full-year total revenue to be in the range of $142 million-$152 million, compared to its prior guidance of $75M-$100M. This is driven by project and supply chain execution ahead of schedule for previously announced battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the U.S., as well as territory expansions in Europe and the Middle East for its gravity energy storage systems (GESS).
The revised guidance implies Q4 revenue to be in the range of $96M-$106M, which is significantly better than the consensus estimate of $37.4M.
Even though profits have decreased, they are still close to their all-time high, as the company benefits from increased interest rates.
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