5 big earnings reports: Maersk drops on downbeat guidance, Chipotle misses

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By Davit Kirakosyan

Maersk took a slide on a disappointing full-year outlook. And here are all 5 of the biggest earnings reports you may have missed on InvestingPro since yesterday's market close. Sign up for real-time earnings coverage.

Maersk’s sluggish guidance

Maersk (CSE:MAERSKb) Copenhagen shares slumped more than 2% after the company delivered lower-than-anticipated annual income guidance due to a slowdown in pandemic-driven demand and sluggish global growth projections for 2023. The company predicts full-year underlying EBITDA of $8 billion-$11 billion, below expectations of $13.45B.

Q4/22 core income decreased 18.4% to $6.5B, due to higher costs and lower volumes, but exceeded expectations of $6.42B.

Citi analysts warned that the disappointing forecast may trigger downgrades to consensus for the company's future performance.

Last month, the stock was downgraded by Goldman Sachs to Sell, and the price target was lowered at four brokerages in the past month, including at Stifel and JPMorgan.

Chipotle shares drop on worse-than-expected Q4

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) shares fell more than 5% premarket today after the company missed expectations on the top and bottom line for Q4. EPS came in at $8.29, compared to the consensus of $8.92, and revenue was $2.2B, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23B. Comparable restaurant sales rose 5.6%, short of the 6.9% expected.

For Q1/23, the company expects comparable restaurant sales growth in the high single digits. It also announced an additional $200 million share buyback.

Following the results, several analysts adjusted their price targets on the stock. The price target was lowered at Truist Securities (to $1,800 from $1,825) and KeyBanc (to $1,780 from $1,800), while BMO Capital raised its price target to $1,800 from $1,600 and Citi raised its price target to $2,084 from $1,986.

Societe Generale forecasts a challenging year as ECB support comes to an end

Societe Generale (EPA:SOGN) expects a "transition year" in 2023 as the benefit of cheap ECB funding falls away, but remains confident in meeting its medium-term profitability goals.

The company’s net income fell 7.2% to €1.13B in Q4 (€1 = $1.07) and its cost of risk rose more than threefold to €413M as bad loan provisions was raised to €3.8B.

The bank's cost-income ratio is projected to rise to 66-68% this year, after falling 3.4% to 61% in 2022. Societe Generale plans to buy back €440M in stock and pay €1.36B in dividends, boosting the per-share payout by 3% to €1.70. That level represents a yield of over 6% on Tuesday's closing price.

In December, the stock was downgraded at JPMorgan (to Neutral from Overweight), and in the two months leading up to the report, the price target was lowered at five brokerages, including Barclays and Goldman Sachs.

Enphase Energy shares surge on Q4 beat & strong guidance

Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH) shares gained more than 9% premarket today after the company reported its Q4 results, with EPS of $1.51 coming better than the consensus estimate of $1.28. Revenue was $724.7M, beating the consensus estimate of $706.28M.

For Q1/23, the company expects revenue to be in the range of $700M-740M, compared to the consensus estimate of $690.45M.

The results follow two analysts' downgrades last month. Piper Sandler downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight and cut its price target to $255.00 from $350.00, noting it views Enphase Energy as a company with solid products, strong management, best-in-class ops, and an attractive market position, however noting that US resi demand uncertainty is too elevated.

Meanwhile, OTR Global downgraded the stock to Mixed from Positive.

VF Corp posts a Q4 beat, reaffirms outlook, cuts dividend

VF Corp (NYSE:VFC) rose more than 7% after-hours Tuesday following the company’s reported better-than-expected Q4 results. EPS came in at $1.12, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99. Revenue decreased 3% (up 3% in constant dollars) to $3.5B, slightly better than the consensus estimate of $3.47B.

Furthermore, the company announced a 41% dividend cut to $0.30 per share and reaffirmed the recently communicated full-year 2023 EPS outlook of $2.05-$2.15 (vs. consensus of $2.07) with revenue growth at approximately 3%.

The beat follows a series of four downgrades in January, including at Baird with a new rating of Neutral (from Outperform) and Wells Fargo with a new rating of Underweight (from Equal Weight).

Shares were recently up fractionally premarket today.

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