Mike Sakuraba graduated with double major of English and Economics. Part time writer, part time investor, full time dad. Mike loves writing about technology, sports, and investing.

2021-04-29 09:14

Yesterday, I touched on the earnings report from Pinterest ($59.31|-4.08%) and Microsoft ($248.14|0.68%) and why they both fell after hours. Today, I’ll review the earnings of two FAANG stocks and why their stocks popped after the call. With Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) reporting its earnings on Thursday and rumors of a stock split running rampant all over the internet, the perfect segue into that mega announcement is to discuss how Facebook ($318.09|0.98%) and Apple ($128.82|0.56%) absolutely destroyed Wall Street estimates.

Facebook ($318.09|0.98%): Facebook may have a bad reputation these days in the public eye, and perhaps it is justified. But Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire showed Wall Street why it is still king. 

Here are they key numbers for Facebook:

• Earnings per share of $3.30 per share compared to analyst estimates of $2.33 per share.

• Total revenues of $26.17 billion compared to analyst estimates of $23.63 billion.

• Monthly Active Users rose by 50 million over last quarter to 2.85 billion.

• Daily Active Users came in below consensus estimates at 1.88 billion.

• ARPU or Average Revenue per User came in at $9.27 compared to estimates of $8.40.

• Shares popped by 6.15% in after hours trading.

It was another stellar quarter for Facebook which thrived off of the increase in digital ad spending. Facebook is in the midst of turning both its main platform and its Instagram platform into full on eCommerce sites for small businesses and content creators, and is furthering its research and development into the AR/VR world with its Oculus VR branch. Facebook could be the most underrated FAANG stock, but it is quickly closing in on the exclusive $1 trillion market cap club. It is interesting to note that the decline in daily active users did not affect investor sentiment, and could be a direct relation to the economy reopening after COVID-19, something that should ease the mind of Pinterest shareholders who saw its DAU decline last quarter as well. 

Apple ($128.82|0.56%): We go from one blow out quarter to another, as the world’s most valuable company proved its worth to its shareholders. Here are Apple’s key figures:

• 54% year over year revenue growth.

• Earnings per share of $1.40 versus analyst expectations of $0.99.

• iPhone revenue of $47.9 billion versus analyst expectations of $41.5 billion.

• iPad revenue of $7.8 billion versus analyst expectations of $5.6 billion.

• Mac Computer revenue of $9.1 billion versus analyst expectations of $6.8 billion.

• Shares were up 4% in after hours trading.

What a dominant quarter across the board for Apple, with some record breaking sales numbers. Buoyed by the continued strong sales of the iPhone 12, Apple also saw its Macbook sales grow during the pandemic that saw working from home and freelance work surge. It will be interesting to see big tech companies like Apple deal with the global chip shortage that is affecting production of tech goods all over the world. Apple has already stated it has had to delay the release of its new Macbook laptop until later in the year. 

Disclaimer: I have no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. All information should be independently verified and should not be relied upon for purposes of transacting securities or other investments. See terms for more info.