Market Brief: May 1, 2020

Under standard accounting, Exxon lost $610 million, or 14 cents per share in the first quarter. But excluding one-time items, the company posted earnings per share of 53 cents, ahead of Wall Street expectations for 4 cents. Revenue of $56.2 billion was a decline from last year’s $63.3 billion, but ahead of analysts’ expectations for $53.5 billion.

Chevron said it will spend $14 billion on capital expenditures this year, down from the $16 billion it said it would spend in March, and the company’s initial expectations of $20 billion. Chevron also plans to reduce its operating expenses by another $1 billion.

Shares of Gilead are up 29.3% so far this year as the S&P 500 has dropped 9.9%. The stock soared on excitement over the company’s antiviral remdesivir, which a government-run study found shortened the recovery time for Covid-19 patients, according to an announcement this week. All three of the analysts praised Gilead for its work on remdesivir. But they say the antiviral won’t lead to profits for Gilead, and that the run-up of the stock on remdesivir news has boosted the valuation too far, or at least far enough.

AbbVie reported adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.42 for the quarter, beating the S&P Capital IQ Consensus estimate of $2.25. The company reported net revenue of $8.6 billion, up 10.1% from the same quarter last year. AbbVie said in its news release that it expects its acquisition of Botox maker Allergan to close this month.

Tesla shares, already trading lower Friday morning, slumped following the tweet. Regardless of how investors feel about the stock, Musk has a point. And shares could have further to fall.

For the quarter, Apple reported revenue of $58.3 billion, up 1% from a year ago, with profits of $2.55 a share, up 4%. The Wall Street forecast had called for revenue of $54.5 billion and profits of $2.26 a share. In February, Apple withdrew its original guidance for the March quarter, which had called for revenue of $63 billion to $67 billion.

The company reported that its quarterly sales increased by 15% from last year, above the 10% increase analysts had forecast. Its diluted quarterly earnings per share jumped 31% from last year, well above estimates for a 16% increase. Earnings per share came in at $1.89 a share on sales of $1.783 billion, beating forecasts for $1.67 a share and $1.707 billion.

Net losses for the asset management firm totaled $2.3 billion in the first quarter, with $1 billion—or $4.47 a share—of those losses attributable to Apollo’s class A shareholders. By comparison, in the first quarter of 2019, Apollo reported profits of $315.5 million, with $139.9 million—or 67 cents a share—attributable to its class A shareholders. Still, despite the significant first-quarter drop, Apollo is declaring a cash dividend of 42 cents a share.

But looking at the current quarter, Honeywell expects sales to slide. It says sales linked to the aerospace industry, which has been hard hit by the coronavirus crisis, likely will decline 25% year over year. Energy-linked sales will be down 15%. Even building-technology sales will fall 10%.

“As a result of the [bond offering] response, and pending the closure of this transaction …we do not plan to seek additional funding through the capital markets or the U.S. government options at this time,” reads the company’s news release.