4 big earnings hits: Apple comes out on top; AMD dives on weak outlook | Pro Recap

Investing.com -- Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest earnings reports you may have missed this week: Cheery news from Apple and Pfizer, dour guidance at AMD, and sliding shares at Starbucks despite an earnings beat.

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Apple sails past estimates, driven by stalwart iPhone sales

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) easily surpassed first-quarter estimates when it announced after the bell Thursday: The tech giant earned $1.52 per share - compared with the $1.43 average analyst estimate - on a top line of $94.8 billion that edged past the Street's consensus. Apple also boosted its dividend and announced a $90B share buyback program.

The results were driven by stronger-than-anticipated iPhone revenue, which makes up more than half of Apple's total sales. Sales from its service business, including Apple TV+ and iCloud, also came in better than expected.

"We are pleased to report an all-time record in services and a March quarter record for iPhone despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, and to have our installed base of active devices reach an all-time high," CEO Tim Cook said.

The company also unveiled a $90B share buyback plan and boosted its quarterly dividend by a penny to 24 cents per share.

Shares were rising 2.5% in recent premarket trading Friday.

AMD guidance disappoints

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) shares took a 9% dive Wednesday on concerning Q2 revenue guidance, even though its Q1 numbers came in better than expected.

EPS for Q1 was $0.60, better than the consensus estimate of $0.56, and revenue of $5.4B edged out the $5.3B forecast.

But sluggish Q2 sales guidance prompted Bank of America to downgrade the stock to Hold from Buy and to trim its price target to $95 from the prior $98.

BofA sees a "range of headwinds" for the company, including "aggressive pricing/promotion pressure from main rival {Intel," as well as concerns on second-half data center growth, lackluster positioning in AI accelerators, and limited room for further expansion in its price-to-earnings multiple until revenue "re-accelerates back to historical levels."

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Starbucks hammered despite earnings beat

Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) was down 9% Wednesday even after better-than-expected second-quarter results: Earnings totaled $0.74 per share, topping the $0.65 consensus, and its $8.7B revenue was also better than expected.

The numbers were driven by growth in its core North America market and a rebound in China. Comparable-store sales, or sales at locations open a year or more, climbed 11%.

Starbucks also reaffirmed its 2023 outlook on the earnings call. JPMorgan said the results were strong but that the full-year guidance was likely not enough to please investors, noting:

"People were very focused on 'macro uncertainty' tempering US results, China recovery, and a variety of near term expense investments intended to drive medium term productivity that served to constrain any expected upside in F23."

Morgan Stanley also surmised that investors likely wanted more from the company. As far as Q1 is concerned, though, it said Starbucks delivered "an impressive quarter by most measures" and that "key fundamental drivers remain intact."

Pfizer flies past estimates

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) reported stronger-than-expected Q1 results: earnings of $1.23 per share on revenue of $18.28B, easily ahead of the Street's estimates of $0.98 per share on revenue of $16.64B.

Sales fell 29% year-over-year as Pfizer generated 77% less from its COVID-19 revenue. Still, the reported $3.06B in vaccine sales topped analyst estimates of $2.6B. Paxlovid revenue came in at $4.07B, crushing the $2.7B expectations.

Pfizer reaffirmed its full-year forecast for adjusted EPS of $3.35 on revenue of $69B. Paxlovid is seen generating $8B in full-year sales.

The company said it expects to achieve 7%-9% operational revenue growth for the full year, excluding COVID-19 product and foreign exchange impacts, and that the majority of that growth should come in the second half.

Senad Karaahmetovic, Scott Kanowsky, and Davit Kirakosyan contributed to this report.

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