First thing Thursday morning, these three heavily traded companies are set to report quarterly results.
American Airlines
Over the past 12 months, American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) has seen its share price decline by about 1.8%. On the strength of United’s earnings, however, shares have gained nearly 27% in January. Passenger traffic has reached pre-pandemic levels, fuel prices have moderated and no glitches in airline flights seem to be strong enough to quash demand for air travel. Guidance could make or break American’s recent good fortune.
Analysts remain extremely cautious on the stock. Of 21 brokerages covering it, 16 have a Hold rating and just two have Buy or Strong Buy ratings. At a recent price of around $16.20, the shares have outrun their median price target of $15.00. At the high target of $26.00, the upside potential is 60.5%.
Fourth-quarter revenue is forecast at $13.2 billion, which would be down 1.9% sequentially but 40.0% higher year over year. The company is expected to post adjusted EPS of $1.07, or 55.5% higher sequentially, and much better than last year’s fourth-quarter loss of $1.42 per share. For the full 2022 fiscal year, the company is expected to post EPS of $0.31 compared to the year-ago loss of $8.38 on revenue of $48.98 billion, up almost 64%.
The stock trades at about 52.7 times expected 2022 earnings, 9.1 times estimated earnings of $1.79 and 5.8 times estimated 2024 earnings of $2.80 per share. Its 52-week trading range is $11.65 to $21.42. The company does not pay a dividend. The total return for the past 12 months was negative 0.8%.
Comcast
Shares of Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) posted their 52-week high exactly one year ago. Since then, the stock has dropped by 19.4%.
New competition for home broadband service, especially from T-Mobile, has nibbled away about half of traditional cable companies’ customers (according to T-Mobile). Comcast may be helping customers make that transition by raising its prices. According to a report at The Street, a typical Comcast customer pays $785 annually for one TV. A second TV pushes the cost up to $905 and a third drives the price to $1,025.
A year from now, Disney is expected to exercise its option to acquire Comcast’s one-third stake in Hulu. Comcast is likely to receive a nice, big check and a hearty handshake for its Hulu stake.
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