Halloween Nightmare Market Close: Q3 Reports for PINS, ETSY, GILD & F
It’s spooky, alright — but not in a fun way. The closing bell this Wednesday turned into a bloodbath following a steep drop to start the trading session. The U.S. Senate pulling out of any agreed-upon stimulus package the rescue small businesses and households caught in the fresh wave of coronavirus infections was, perhaps, a final nail in this coffin, if you will. Covid-19 cases are spiking all over, but especially in the Midwest and Mountain West regions, where smaller hospital industries are quickly running out of bed space for all the new victims of the pandemic.
We saw the same thing in Europe a couple weeks ago: a big spike in new cases as cooler temps sent people indoors, where scientists have known for months the disease is much more easily spread. Today we saw a new lockdown in France to combat the new infection wave, conjuring images of last spring’s economic shutdown which cause the stock market to fall off a cliff. And we’re right back there again: the Nasdaq led the way down, -3.7% or 426 points; the S&P 500 dropped 3.5% or 120 points; and the Dow, just off session lows at the end of the normal trading day, fell 3.4% or 943 points.
All 11 sectors in the S&P 500 finished the day in the red, led by Tech and Communications Services, both around -4%. Perhaps this clears a pathway for buying in at more affordable valuations — especially with a new Q3 GDP number coming out Thursday morning, which should post an all-time high — or maybe investors dislike our near-term prospects regarding the coronavirus (to say nothing of a potentially contested presidential election) so much they feel the nightmare is not yet over. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have now joined the Dow in giving up year-to-date gains as of today.
After the close, Pinterest PINS shares skyrocketed on excellent Q3 earnings numbers: 13 cents per share well outpaced the 1 cent expected, while sales of $443 million was well ahead of the $399 million in the Zacks consensus, up 58% year over year. Monthly Active Users (MAU) added 26 million in the quarter, led by 46% growth internationally. Q4 guidance is for 64% growth on its top line.
Etsy ETSY also posted a big beat and higher guide in its Q3 report this afternoon, with 70 cents per share beating the Zacks consensus by 8 cents on $451 million in sales, which easily surpassed the $419 million estimate. The company now looks for 65-85% growth in gross margin sales, with big guidance upgrades on both top and bottom lines that will likely bring upward revisions to Etsy’s coverage, leading to an improvement on its current Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) rating.
Gilead’s GILD Q3 was similarly impressive: $2.11 per share beat the expected $1.83 per share, with $6.58 billion in sales zooming past the $6.20 billion estimate. The drug company’s HIV treatments outperformed expectations, augmented by its miss in Hep-C. Remdesivir, the Covid-19 treatment recently given the full OK from the FDA, made $873 million in the quarter.
Ford F also put up very strong Q3 numbers, with 65 cents per share almost tripling the 22 cents in the Zacks consensus, on $34.7 billion in quarterly sales beating our estimate by $2 billion. Strong demand on its trucks and SUV offerings combined with sticker prices near all-time highs generated the automaker’s second straight big earnings beat, swinging the trailing four-quarter average to a positive.
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