Recovery is completely tied to the economy. A depressing set of results met with relief by the market is a sign that all of the downside is priced into the stock paving the way for a steady, but probably slow recovery that is going to take some time. FQ1 2023 revenues / EPS were RMB205.6bn / RMB1.06 just ahead of...
Negative gross margins must be fixed at all costs. Lucid Motors reported awful Q2 2022 results as it suffers from negative gross margins and remains unable to fulfil the demand that it has making the stock look even more overvalued than it already is. Q2 2022 revenues / EPS were $97.3m / LOSS$0.33 way below estimates of $157.1m / LOSS$0.41...
Airbnb Q2 2022 – Great company, bad stock. Airbnb reported good results and cash flow but concerns around growth hit sentiment which has obviously prompted the company to announce a buyback to prop up the shares. Q2 2022 revenue / EPS were $2.1bn / $0.56 pretty much in line with guidance of $2.1bn / $0.43. Bookings rose by 25% to...
Storm in a teacup. The SEC has added Alibaba to its list of Chinese companies that will be delisted in 2024 in a move that in my opinion is really just part of a negotiation that will end up with Chinese companies staying listed in the USA should they so desire. Nonetheless, Alibaba’s share price has tanked again on the...
AlphaFold almost fulfils its promise. DeepMind has expanded a crucial biological database by 200x confirming that an entire branch of scientific enquiry is now virtually obsolete. AlphaFold is DeepMind’s algorithm that is capable of predicting the physical structure of proteins based purely on their amino acid sequence which was interesting in 2018 (see here), impressive in 2020 (see here) and...
Amazon Q2 2022 – Good. Amazon reported good results and guidance as AWS and its on-site advertising business supported softness in its biggest business and are expected to enhance e-commerce to allow growth to go back to 10% YoY from Q3 2022. Q2 2022 revenues / EPS were $121.2bn / LOSS$0.20 compared to forecasts $119.2bn / $0.12. The losses include...
Meta Platforms Q2 2022 – Slows the Metaverse. Meta Platforms reported soft numbers and increased the price for the Oculus VR headset in a sign that the next year or so is going to be tricky and that investments are being slowed to deal with that. Revenues / EPS were $28.8bn / $2.46 broadly in line with consensus at $28.9bn...
Alphabet Q2 2022 – Taken share. Alphabet reported weaker than expected results but crucially they were not as bad as feared and the company spoke reasonably optimistically about its outlook. Q2 2022 revenues-ex TAC / EPS were $57.5bn / $1.21 compared to estimates of $58.0bn / $1.32. Despite the miss and the lack of concrete guidance, the market saw this...
FF’s future lies in Chapter 7 or 11. Faraday Future gave a glimpse of its inevitable future with yet another delay of its vehicle that was first expected to hit the market in 2018 and a warning that it needs more money. Faraday Future has announced a delay to the start of production of its F91 EV but most concerning...
Autonomous Autos – Sleight of hand
Baidu’s vehicles are not really driverless. Baidu, like Waymo and Cruise, has received a license to operate “driverless” vehicles on Chinese roads but the reality is that just because there is no one in the driver’s seat does not mean that there is no driver. Baidu now has permission to operate vehicles with no humans in the vehicle in Wuhan...