The US stock markets closed the last day of the week higher as investors continued to digest earnings announcements from world’s leading companies as well as the Federal Reserve’s latest remarks on monetary policy. Visa and Apple were among the best-performing stocks at all major indexes after reporting their respective earnings on Thursday.
The Dow Jones was up 1.65%, the S&P 500 rose 2.43% with Visa soaring 10.60%. The Nasdaq 100 closed with a 3.22% gain.
Tesla gained by 2.08% on Friday after it tumbled more than 8% after saying its factories have been running below capacity amid supply chain disruptions. Tesla Inc. reported its earnings on Wednesday with total revenues for the final quarter of 2021 rising by 65% to $17.7 billion. Automotive revenues surged by 71% to $15.97 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 while net income skyrocketed 760% year on year to $2.3 billion.
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Apple Earnings Report
Apple said on Thursday its revenue in the first quarter of its fiscal 2022 rose by 11% to $123.9 billion. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) was up 25% to $2.10.
iPhone sales for the period were up 9% to $65.6 billion. The company declared a dividend of $0.22 per share that will be payable on February 10 to shareholders of record as of February 7.
Visa
Visa Inc. said on Thursday that its net revenues and its GAAP net income soared 24% and 27% on an annual basis to reach $7.1 billion and $4 billion, respectively, in the opening trimester.
The company’s stock price rose by as much as 10.60% on Friday following the positive earnings report.
Blackstone
Blackstone Inc. on Thursday said that its fourth-quarter revenue soared 61% to $5.8 billion, and net income also jumped 61% annually to $2.9 billion. The diluted EPS for the full year 2021 came to $8.13, a 442% surge compared to the full year 2020. Revenue was boosted 270% to $22.6 billion, while net income skyrocketed 463% to $12.4 billion.
Comcast
Comcast Corporation on Thursday said that its revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter increased 9.5% to $30.34 billion. The company’s adjusted net income rose 35.1% year-over-year to $3.53 billion.
Revenue for the year 2021 increased by 12.4% to $116.39 billion while adjusted net income was up 24.8% to $15.05 billion.
Mastercard
Mastercard Inc.’s revenue for the full year 2021 improved by 23% to reach $18.9 billion. Net income increased 35% year-on-year to $8.7 billion.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s Corporation on Thursday said its revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 grew by 14% to $6.1 billion. Its revenue in the entire year was up 18% to hit $23.2 billion.
The company’s net income for the fourth trimester rose 20%.
Robinhood
Robinhood Markets Inc. on Thursday said that its total net revenues in the fourth quarter of 2021 rose by 14% to $363 million. Net loss fell to $423 million, from net income of $13 million.
Total net revenues jumped 89% to $1.82 billion. Net loss was $3.69 billion in 2021, compared to net income of $7 million recorded in the year before.
Dow Inc
Dow Inc. net sales in the fourth quarter of 2021 rose 34% to $14.4 billion. The chemical company’s net income was up 40% to $1.76 billion.
Chevron
Chevron Corporation on Friday said its revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 came in at $5.1 billion and the one for the entire year at $15.6 billion. In 2020, the company recorded a quarterly loss of $665 million and an annual one of $5.5 billion.
In the fourth quarter, the company’s upstream business surged by a massive 928% to $5.155 billion, while its downstream operations improved from the losses of $338 million to the revenue of $760 million.
Caterpillar Inc
Caterpillar Inc. sales and revenues for the fourth quarter of 2021 rose by 23% to $13.8 billion.
For the entire 2021, sales and revenues came in at $50.97 billion after a 22% climb, while the company’s diluted EPS surged 116% to $11.83.
Virgin Orbit Wins NASA Contract
Virgin Orbit said on Thursday that the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had selected the company to provide launch services for its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated Rideshare (VADR) missions.
“This contract award is a great step forward for commercial space. The VADR contract vehicle now provides a platform for NASA to more easily contract for flights on our LauncherOne service,” ,” said Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart stated.
Virgin Orbit, which listed via a SPAC deal in December, already worked with NASA on 13 satellite launches through programs including the Venture Class Launch Services program and the CubeSat Launch Initiative.
