SHANGHAI, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (HWT.UL) estimated on Friday its 2022 revenue remained flat, suggesting that its sales decline due to U.S. sanctions had come to a halt.
Despite sales increasing a mere 0.02%, rotating chairman Eric Xu struck an upbeat tone in the company’s annual New Year’s letter, where he revealed the figure.
“U.S. restrictions are now our new normal, and we’re back to business as usual,” Xu wrote in the letter that was addressed to staff and released to media.
Revenue for the year is expected to be 636.9 billion yuan ($$91.53 billion), according to Xu.
That represents a tiny increase from 2021, when revenue hit 636.8 billion yuan, and marked a 30% year-on-year sales tumble as the U.S. sanctions on the company took effect.
Xu’s letter did not mention Huawei’s profitability. The company typically discloses its full annual results in the following year’s first quarter.
Revenue for 2022 still remained well below the company’s record of $122 billion in 2019. At the time the company was at its peak as the top Android smartphone vendor globally.
In 2019, the U.S. Trump administration imposed a trade ban on Huawei, citing national security concerns, which barred the company from using Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Android for its new smartphones, among other critical U.S.-origin technologies.
The sanctions caused its handset device sales to plummet. It also lost access to critical components that barred it from designing its line of processors for smartphones under its HiSilicon chip division.
The company continues to generate revenue via its networking equipment division, which competes with Nokia (NOKIA.HE) and Ericsson (ERICb.ST). It also operates a cloud computing division.
The company began investing in the electric vehicle (EV) sector as well as green technologies around the time sanctions took effect.
“The macro environment may be rife with uncertainty, but what we can be certain about is that digitisation and decarbonisation are the way forward, and they’re where future opportunities lie,” said Xu in the letter.
Reporting by Josh Horwitz; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman
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Dec 22 (Reuters) – Used-car retailer CarMax Inc (KMX.N) said on Thursday it was pausing some hiring, halting share buybacks and cutting expenses after reporting an 86% drop in third-quarter profit as the industry struggles to offload inventory amid waning demand.
The company’s shares fell as much as 12% to $52.10 and were at more than a two-and-a-half year low, dragging other auto retailers down with it.
The used-car industry, which minted money during the pandemic, is now struggling to sell cars at or above the prices it bought them as consistent rate hikes and decades-high inflation take a toll on demand.
“CarMax is battling a used-vehicle recession,” Evercore ISI analyst Michael Montani said, adding that pressure on wholesale sales intensified from the second quarter.
Reuters Graphics
In response to challenging industry conditions, CarMax said it slowed car buying in the third quarter and cut marketing and capital expenditures.
CarMax is also lowering its staffing “from an attrition basis” and paused hiring in its corporate office to cut costs, Chief Financial Officer Enrique Mayor-Mora said during an investor call, adding that some actions may carry into the next year.
The company also halted share buybacks, CarMax said but added it remains committed to returning capital back to shareholders over time.
“Given third-quarter performance and continued market uncertainties, we are taking a conservative approach to our capital structure,” CarMax said.
CarMax reported retail and wholesale used-vehicle unit sales were 298,807 in the quarter through November, down 28% from a year earlier. It also bought about 40% fewer vehicles in the third quarter.
The company reported net income of 24 cents per share, compared with estimates of 70 cents, according to Refinitiv data.
CarMax’s revenue fell about 24% to $6.51 billion, below estimates of $7.29 billion.
Shares of other car retailers such as AutoNation Inc (AN.N) and Carvana Co (CVNA.N) were down between 1% and 2%.
Reporting by Priyamvada C and Kannaki Deka in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Maju Samuel
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Dec 3 (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) are planning to resume advertising on Twitter, according to media reports on Saturday.
The developments follow an email sent by Twitter on Thursday to advertising agencies offering advertisers incentives to increase their spending on the platform, an effort to jump-start its business after Elon Musk’s takeover prompted many companies to pull back.
Twitter billed the offer as the “biggest advertiser incentive ever on Twitter,” according to the email reviewed by Reuters. U.S. advertisers who book $500,000 in incremental spending will qualify to have their spending matched with a “100% value add,” up to a $1 million cap, the email said.
On Saturday, a Platformer News reporter tweeted that Amazon is planning to resume advertising on Twitter at about $100 million a year, pending some security tweaks to the company’s ads platform.
The Amazon logo is seen outside its JFK8 distribution center in Staten Island, New York, U.S. November 25, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
However, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Amazon had never stopped advertising on Twitter.
Separately, during a Twitter Spaces conversation, Musk announced that Apple is the largest advertiser on Twitter and has “fully resumed” advertising on the platform, according to a Bloomberg report.
Musk’s first month as Twitter’s owner has included a slashing of staff including employees who work on content moderation and incidents of spammers impersonating major public companies, which has spooked the advertising industry.
Many companies from General Mills Inc (GIS.N) to luxury automaker Audi of America stopped or paused advertising on Twitter since the acquisition, and Musk said in November that the company had seen a “massive” drop in revenue.
Apple and Twitter did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the matter.
Reporting by Juby Babu and Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Rhea Binoy; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Daniel Wallis
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Nov 17 (Reuters) – Blizzard Entertainment (ATVI.O) and NetEase (9999.HK) caused dismay among thousands of gamers on Thursday by saying hits such as ‘World of Warcraft’ will not be available in China from next year as a 14-year partnership ended.
NetEase shares closed 9% lower in Hong Kong after Blizzard said it was unable to reach a deal with the Hangzhou-based company that was consistent with the California-based firm’s “operating principles and commitments to players and employees”.
Blizzard’s announcement, which gave no further detail, was the top trending topic on China’s Weibo platform with more than 100 million views as users expressed shock and sadness. Many said they had played its games for more than a decade.
“My youth was heavily marked by playing Hearthstone,” said one, while another lamented: “I’m so sad. I started playing Blizzard games from 2008… how do I say good bye?”.
Blizzard said new sales would be suspended in the coming days and players would receive further details.
The games to be suspended by midnight on Jan. 24 include ‘World of Warcraft’, ‘Hearthstone’, ‘Warcraft III: Reforged’, Overwatch’, the ‘StarCraft’ series, ‘Diablo III’, and ‘Heroes of the Storm’, Blizzard said.
NetEase rose to become China’s second-biggest gaming company behind Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) in large part due to the deals it clinched in 2008 to be Blizzard’s publishing partner in China, when Blizzard ended its deal with The9 Ltd (NCTY.O).
NetEase later issued a statement in Chinese saying it was sorry to see Blizzard’s disclosure, while confirming that the two firms were unable to agree on key terms of cooperation.
In a statement in English, NetEase said that ending the licence agreements, which are set to expire on Jan. 23, would have no “material impact” on its results.
“We will continue our promise to serve our players well until the last minute. We will make sure our players’ data and assets are well protected in all of our games,” NetEase CEO William Ding said in a statement.
NetEase said the recently published ‘Diablo Immortal’, co-developed by NetEase and Blizzard, is covered by a separate long-term agreement, allowing its service to continue in China.
It said Blizzard’s games contributed a low-single-digit percentage to its total net revenue and net income in 2021 and the first nine months of 2022.
In a research report on Nov. 9, Daiwa Capital Markets estimated that the absence of Blizzard games could lower NetEase’s revenue by 6-8% next year.
This was based on an estimate that licensed games account for around 10% of NetEase’s total revenue and Blizzard accounts for 60-80% of licensed games.
Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Savio D’Souza, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Alexander Smith
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Walmart jumps on strong forecast, other retailers rise
Indexes up: Dow 0.03%, S&P 0.74%, Nasdaq 1.4%
Nov 15 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were higher on Tuesday, but gains were cut after a report that Russian missiles crossed into Poland and killed two people, somewhat undermining hopes that cooling inflation would lead to a pullback in rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Two people were killed in an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, firefighters told Reuters.
The Associated Press cited a senior U.S. intelligence official as saying the blast was due to Russian missiles crossing into Poland. However, the Pentagon said on Tuesday it could not confirm reports that Russian missiles had crossed into Poland.
Russia has been pounding cities across Ukraine with missiles, in attacks that Kyiv said were the heaviest wave of missile strikes in nearly nine months of war, while Poland’s prime minister called an urgent meeting of a government committee for national security and defense affairs.
“The decline was triggered by reports of a Russian missile landing in Poland,” said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers. “This could develop into something far worse, but right now markets are nervous, not panicked.”
Stocks pulled back around mid-day, after jumping higher earlier in the session after data showed U.S. producer prices increased less than expected.
“You still are seeing volatile trading across markets,” said Matthew Miskin, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management.
“We are not out of the woods yet as it relates to the Russia-Ukraine war. We did get incrementally better data on inflation but there are also still growth concerns.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 9.73 points, or 0.03%, to 33,546.43, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 29.4 points, or 0.74%, to 3,986.65 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 156.76 points, or 1.4%, to 11,352.98.
Tuesday’s inflation report showed producer prices rising 8% in the 12 months through October against an estimated 8.3% rise.
Tuesday’s equity gains built on a rally kicked off late last week by a cooler-than-expected report on consumer prices.
Shares of Walmart Inc (WMT.N) jumped 7% after the top U.S. retailer lifted its annual sales and profit forecasts, benefiting from a steady demand for groceries despite higher prices.
Shares of other retailers, including Target Corp (TGT.N) and Costco (COST.O), also rose following Walmart’s report.
Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf and Carolina Mandl in New York, Shubham Batra, Sruthi Shankar, Amruta Khandekar and Ankika Biswas; Additional reporting by Devik Jain;
Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Arun Koyyur
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OAKLAND, Calif., Nov 7 (Reuters) – U.S. chip maker Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) is offering a new advanced chip in China that meets recent export control rules aimed at keeping cutting-edge technology out of China’s hands, the company confirmed on Monday.
Nvidia responded to Reuters’ reporting that Chinese computer sellers are advertising products with the new chip.
The chip, called the A800, represents the first reported effort by a U.S. semiconductor company to create advanced processors for China that follow new U.S. trade rules. Nvidia has said the export limitations could cost it hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
U.S. regulations set in early October effectively banned export of advanced microchips and equipment to produce advanced chips by Chinese chipmakers, part of an effort to hobble China’s semiconductor industry and in turn the military.
In late August, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O both said that their advanced chips, including Nvidia’s data center chip A100, were added to the export control list by the U.S. Commerce Department. The Nvidia A800 can be used in place of the A100 and both are GPUs, or graphics processing units.
Such advanced chips can cost thousands of dollars each.
“The Nvidia A800 GPU, which went into production in Q3, is another alternative product to the Nvidia A100 GPU for customers in China. The A800 meets the U.S. Government’s clear test for reduced export control and cannot be programmed to exceed it,” a Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.
The logo of technology company Nvidia is seen at its headquarters in Santa Clara, California February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith/File Photo
Nvidia declined comment on whether it consulted the Commerce Department about the new chip. A Commerce Department spokesperson declined to comment.
At least two Chinese websites by major server makers offer the A800 chip in their products. One of those products previously used the A100 chip in promotional material.
A distributor website in China detailed the specifications of the A800. A comparison of the chip capabilities with the A100 shows that the chip-to-chip data transfer rate is 400 gigabytes per second on the new chip, down from 600 gigabytes per second on the A100. The new rules restrict rates of 600 gigabytes per second and up.
“The A800 looks to be a repackaged A100 GPU designed to avoid the recent Commerce Department trade restrictions,” said Wayne Lam, an analyst at CCS Insight, basing his comments on the specs shared by Reuters, and noting that eight is a lucky number in China.
“China is a significant market for Nvidia and it makes ample business sense to reconfigure your product to avoid trade restrictions,” said Lam.
Lam said the chip-to-chip communications abilities of the A800 represented a clear performance downgrade for a data center where thousands of chips are used together.
Major Chinese server makers Inspur and H3C which offer servers with the new chips did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did chip distributor OmniSky, which posted the A800 specs online.
Nvidia has said that about $400 million worth of chip sales to China could be impacted in its fiscal third quarter ended in October due to the limits on high-end chips. Having a replacement chip could help lessen the financial blow. The company is to report quarterly results on Nov. 16.
Reporting by Jane Lanhee Lee in Oakland, Calif.
Addditional reporting by Josh Horwitz in Shanghai and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Peter Henderson, Matthew Lewis and Leslie Adler
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Apple expects lower shipments of iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max
Apple says a China plant operating at sharply reduced capacity
Apple supplier Foxconn revises down Q4 outlook
TAIPEI, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O) expects lower shipments of premium iPhone 14 models than previously anticipated following a significant production cut at a virus-blighted plant in China, dampening its sales outlook for the busy year-end holiday season.
Demand for high-end smartphones assembled at Foxconn’s (2317.TW) Zhengzhou plant has helped Apple remain a bright spot in a technology sector battered by consumer spending cutbacks amid surging inflation and interest rates.
But the Cupertino, California-based vendor has fallen victim to China’s zero-COVID-19 policy, which has seen global firms including Canada Goose Holdings Inc (GOOS.TO), and Estee Lauder Companies Inc (EL.N) shut local stores and cut forecasts.
“The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity,” Apple said on Sunday without detailing the scale of the reduction.
“We continue to see strong demand for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models. However, we now expect lower iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments than we previously anticipated,” it said in a statement.
Reuters last month reported that iPhone output could slump as much as 30% in November at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory – one of the world’s biggest – due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The factory in central China, which employs about 200,000 people, has been rocked by discontent over stringent measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, with many workers fleeing the site.
Market researcher TrendForce last week cut its iPhone shipment forecast for October-December by 2 million to 3 million units, from 80 million, due to the factory’s troubles, adding its investigation found capacity utilisation rates around 70%.
Apple, which began selling its iPhone 14 range in September, said customers should expect longer waiting times.
“Anything that affects Apple’s production obviously affects their share price,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“But this is part of a much deeper story – the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Chinese economy… These headlines are part of the ongoing saga as to whether there is any truth to the consistent rumours that authorities are discussing whether some of the measures will be lifted in the first quarter.”
China on Monday reported its highest number of new COVID-19 infections in six months, with disruption to the world’s second-largest economy spreading nationwide since October. At the weekend, health officials said they would stick with strict coronavirus curbs, disappointing investors hoping for easing.
Meanwhile, Apple expects to produce at least 3 million fewer iPhone 14 handsets this year than planned due to weak demand for lower-end models, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the plan.
The world’s most valuable firm, with a market capitalisation of $2.2 trillion, last month forecast October-December revenue growth would slow from the previous quarter’s 8% – though market watchers regarded that favourably in a battered sector.
“Given that Apple reported only two weeks ago with positive guidance, we think this points to the potential for a longer and more severe lockdown,” Credit Suisse analysts said, expecting iPhone sales to be pushed to later quarters than lost.
They estimated Apple’s revenue to rise 3% in the current quarter, with iPhone sales growing 2% to $73 billion.
Reuters Graphics
FOXCONN CUTS OUTLOOK
Taiwan’s Foxconn is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and Apple’s biggest iPhone maker, accounting for 70% of shipments globally. It has iPhone production sites in India and southern China, but its biggest is in the city of Zhengzhou in the eastern Chinese province of Henan.
Local officials recently commented on cases of COVID-19 at the plant. Foxconn has declined to disclose the number of infections or comment on the conditions of those infected.
On Monday, it said it was working to resume full production at Zhengzhou as soon as possible. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Foxconn’s target is by the second half of November.
At the request of the local government, Foxconn said it would implement measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, including restricting employee movement to between their dormitory and factory area.
The manufacturer has also began a recruitment drive, offering workers who left the plant during Oct. 10 to Nov. 5 a one-off bonus of 500 yuan ($69) if they returned. It also advertised salaries of 30 yuan an hour, higher than the 17 to 23 yuan base salaries that some workers told Reuters they received.
The Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone, which houses the iPhone factory, entered a seven-day lockdown on Wednesday with measures included barring residents from going out and only allowing access to approved vehicles. read more
Foxconn said the provincial government “has made it clear that it will, as always, fully support Foxconn”.
“Foxconn is now working with the government in concerted effort to stamp out the pandemic and resume production to its full capacity as quickly as possible.”
Having previously expressed “cautious optimism” in its fourth-quarter earnings guidance, Foxconn on Monday said it will “revise down” its outlook given events in Zhengzhou.
The fourth quarter is traditionally a hot season for Taiwanese technology companies as they race to supply smartphones, tablet computers and other electronics for the year-end holiday shopping period in Western markets.
Foxconn releases its third-quarter earnings results on Nov. 10.
The firm, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, saw its share price fall 0.5% in Monday trade, versus a 1.5% rise in the benchmark index (.TWII).
($1 = 7.2135 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Sarah Wu in Taipei, Caroline Valetkevitch in New York and Jaiveer Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Brenda Goh; Writing by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Christopher Cushing
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TOKYO, Nov 1 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Tuesday posted a worse-than-expected 25% drop in quarterly profit and cut its annual output target, as the Japanese firm battles surging material costs and a persistent semiconductor shortage.
The world’s biggest automaker by sales also warned that it remained difficult to predict the future after posting its fourth consecutive quarterly profit decline, underlining the strength of business headwinds it faces.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Toyota fared better than most car makers in managing supply chains, but it fell victim to the prolonged chip shortage this year, cutting monthly production targets repeatedly.
“We’re out of the worst phase, but … it’s not necessarily a situation where we’re fully supplied,” said Kazunari Kumakura, Toyota’s purchasing group chief. “I don’t know when the chip shortage will be resolved.”
Operating profit for the three months ended September fell to 562.7 billion yen ($3.79 billion), well short of an average estimate of 772.2 billion yen in a poll of 12 analysts by Refinitiv. Toyota sales reported a 749.9 billion yen profit a year earlier, and 578.6 billion yen in profit in the first quarter.
Kumakura said the global auto chip shortage continues, as chipmakers have prioritised supplies for electronics goods such as smartphones and computers, while natural disasters, COVID lockdowns and factory disruption have slowed a recovery in auto chip supplies.
He also said the supply of older-type semiconductors, that attract little capital investment currently, would remain tight.
Amid the gloom, shares in Toyota closed down 1.9%, versus a 0.3% rise in the Nikkei (.N225) average.
‘VERY UNIMPRESSIVE’
Some analysts were underwhelmed by the performance, saying other positive factors beyond the chip shortage should have provided a boost.
“The yen is weaker in the second quarter, the volume in the second quarter is much higher than in the first quarter, and the (COVID) lockdown in China does not affect (the volume in the second quarter),” said Koji Endo, an analyst at SBI Securities.
“Considering these points … the absolute amount of profit in the second quarter has got to be higher than that of the first quarter. It is very unimpressive.”
Production rebounded by 30% in the quarter, but the company warned last week shortages of semiconductors and other components would continue to constrain output in coming months.
Toyota said it now expects to produce 9.2 million vehicles this fiscal year, down from the previously forecast 9.7 million but still ahead of last financial year’s production of about 8.6 million units.
Reuters reported last month Toyota had told several suppliers it was setting a global target for the current business year to 9.5 million vehicles and signalled that forecast could be lowered, depending on the supply of electromagnetic steel sheets.
MUTED YEN IMPACT
The yen has plunged around 30% this year against the U.S. dollar, but the benefit of the cheap yen – making sales overseas worth more – has been offset by soaring input costs.
The weak yen boosted profit by 565 billion yen in the first half of this financial year, but the gain was more than wiped out by 765 billion yen increase in material costs, with the cheap local currency further inflating import costs, Toyota said.
Toyota retained its conservative profit outlook, sticking to its full-year operating forecast of 2.4 trillion yen for the fiscal year through March 31 – well below analysts’ average forecast of 3.0 trillion yen.
By comparison, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) raised its revenue and profit margin guidance last month to reflect a foreign exchange lift.
Toyota, once a darling of environmentalists for its hybrid gasoline-electric models, is also under scrutiny from green investors and activists over its slow push into fully electric vehicles (EV).
Just a year into its $38 billion EV plan, Toyota is already considering rebooting it to better compete in a market growing beyond its projections, Reuters reported last month.
In a reputational hit, Toyota had to recall earlier this year its first mass-produced all-electric vehicle after just two months on the market due to safety concerns, and suspend production. It restarted taking leasing orders last month for domestic market.
Toyota reiterated on Tuesday that battery-powered EVs are a powerful weapon for decarbonisation, but that there are various other options to achieve the goal.
($1 = 148.3100 yen)
Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Writing by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell
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Company projects flat oil output this year on Russia losses
HOUSTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) on Friday smashed expectations as soaring energy prices fueled a record-breaking quarterly profit, nearly matching that of tech giant Apple.
Its $19.66 billion third-quarter net profit far exceeded recently raised Wall Street forecasts as skyrocketing natural gas and high oil prices put its earnings within reach of Apple’s (AAPL.O) $20.7 billion net for the same period.
As recently as 2013, Exxon ranked as the largest publicly traded U.S. company by market value – a position now held by Apple. Exxon shares rose 3% to $110.70, a record high that gave it a market value of $461 billion.
Oil company profits have soared this year as rising demand and an undersupplied energy market collided with Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. U.S. exports of gas and oil to Europe have jumped and promise to set all-time profit records for the industry.
The top U.S. oil producer reported a per-share profit of $4.68, exceeding Wall Street’s $3.89 consensus view, on a huge jump in natural gas earnings, continued high oil prices and strong fuel sales.
“Where others pulled back in the face of uncertainty and a historic slowdown, retreating and retrenching, this company moved forward, continuing to invest,” Chief Executive Darren Woods told investors. Its quarterly profits “reflect that deep commitment” as well as higher prices, he added.
Exxon led record gains among oil majors in the second quarter and has leapfrogged Shell Plc (SHEL.L) and TotalEnergies SE (TTEF.PA) with earnings almost twice as big from continued bets on fossil fuels as competitors shifted investment to renewables.
Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics
Exxon banked $43 billion in the first nine months of this year, 19% more than in the same period of 2008, when oil prices traded at a record level of $140 per barrel.
Earnings from pumping oil and gas tripled last quarter while profit from selling motor fuels jumped tenfold compared with year-ago levels. Natural gas sales to Europe and soaring demand for diesel fuel led the company’s better-than-expected results.
“The refining businesses – both in the U.S. and international – was the star performer,” said Peter McNally, an analyst at Third Bridge.
Those rising fuel profits have renewed calls by U.S. President Joe Biden for companies to invest the windfall from this year’s energy price run-up in production rather than buy back their own shares.
Exxon will maintain its $30 billion share buyback through 2023 while increasing dividends, Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells told Reuters. On Friday, it declared a fourth-quarter per-share dividend of 91 cents, up 3 cents, and will pay $15 billion to shareholders this year.
Exxon said its U.S. oil and gas production from the Permian Basin was near 560,000 barrels of oil and gas per day (boepd), a record. Production for the year will increase about 20% over 2021, said CEO Woods.
“We’re optimizing and adjusting our development plans,” he told analysts, with the full-year production gain below the 25% increase Exxon had forecast in February.
Results also were helped by an almost 100,000-boepd increase over the previous quarter in Guyana, where Exxon leads a consortium responsible for all output in the South American nation.
But its withdrawal from Russia reduced its overall production forecast for the year by about 100,000 barrels per day. Exxon said its Russian assets were expropriated.
“We are going to end up at about 3.7 million barrels a day for the full year,” Mikells said, down from a 3.8 million bpd goal set in February.
Reporting by Sabrina Valle; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa, Jonathan Oatis and Marguerita Choy
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Oct 27 (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Thursday reported revenue and profit that topped Wall Street targets, one of the few bright spots in a tech sector battered by spending cutbacks due to inflation.
The forecast for the holiday quarter was more grim. While not providing specific numbers, Apple said revenue growth would fall below 8% in the December quarter but did not go as far as Amazon.com AMZN.O, whose dire holiday outlook sent its shares down 14%.
Apple shares initially dipped in after-hours trading but recovered in positive territory.
The Cupertino, California-based tech giant was saved by its oldest technology, its laptop computers, while its star, the iPhone, stumbled.
Although iPhone sales were not as strong as some analysts had targeted, they were still a record for the September quarter. Mac sales of $11.5 billion were far head of analyst estimates of $9.36 billion.
Apple’s results showed some resilience in the face of a weak economy and strong U.S. dollar that has led to disastrous reports from many tech companies. Like Facebook parent Meta (META.O) and Snap (SNAP.N), Apple is seeing softness in advertising spending.
Overall, Apple said quarterly revenue rose 8% to $90.1 billion, above estimates of $88.9 billion, and net profit was $1.29 per share, topping with the average analyst estimate of $1.27 per share, according to Refinitiv data.
“We did better than we anticipated, in spite of the fact that foreign exchange was a significant negative for us,” said Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri.
The rising U.S. dollar has hit many companies such as Apple that generate substantial foreign revenue and are getting less cash back when they convert it. For consumers, it increases the price of new devices when bought in countries outside of the United States.
Apple’s iPhone sales for the company’s fiscal fourth quarter rose to $42.6 billion, when Wall Street expected sales of $43.21 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES.
Maestri said iPhone sales set a record for the September quarter, improving 10% over the prior year’s quarter and exceeding the company’s forecast.
“The iPhone number is a hint of the turmoil and uncertainty in the market, but Apple has different ways to offset,” said Runar Bjorhovde, a research analyst at market research firm Canalys.
Sales of Apple’s Mac computers received a boost from this summer’s introduction of redesigned MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops. New tablets went on sale this week.
Apple said its gross margin of 43.3% was a record for the September quarter.
[1/2] The logo of Apple company is seen outside an Apple store in Bordeaux, France, March 22, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/File Photo
Maestri said the robust computer sales also reflected a backlog of orders, caused by a prolonged shutdown at one of the factories that produces Macs, which the Apple was able to fill in the quarter.
The company reported sales of iPads were $7.2 billion, compared with the average estimate of $7.94 billion.
Apple wearables such as AirPods and other accessories notched sales of $9.7 billion, slightly ahead of the Wall Street forecast of $9.2 billion.
“They said they didn’t have particular issue with supply, so that seems to be a thing of the past,” said Creative Strategies consumer analyst Carolina Milanesi.
Growth in the company’s services business, which has buoyed sales and profits in recent years, saw a rise to $19.2 billion in revenue, below the estimate of $20.10 billion.
Maestri said Apple experienced softness in digital advertising and gaming, as have others in the sector.
“Like other major tech companies, even Apple is suffering from the negative impact of a worsening macro backdrop and ongoing supply chain woes, though it has done a better job of navigating through the challenging environment,” Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com.
In China, which has experienced a sharp economic slowdown, Apple reported fourth-quarter sales of $15.5 billion. That is a gain from the prior quarter, when Apple logged sales of $14.6 billion.
Apple said it now has 900 million paying subscribers to its services, up from the previous quarter’s 860 million.
Read more:
Meta stock craters over bleak forecast and expensive metaverse bets
Alphabet’s miss fans inflation fears across digital advertising
Samsung defies chip downturn with aggressive supply and capex plans
Cloud to PCs, Microsoft forecasts spook investors as economy bites
Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Henderson and Lisa Shumaker
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