News Corp Plunges 10%, Meredith Beats Estimates

Mukesh Buch
10 Aug, 2018
New York City

Air Lease net soared but falls short on revenues estimate. Applied Industrial Technologies net plunged. JetBlue traffic in July soared and load factor jumped. J2 Global lifted earnings forecast. Meredith beats revenue estimates. News Corp net loss narrowed.

[R]12:45 PM New York City, New York – Air Lease Corp net soared but falls short on revenues estimate. Applied Industrial Technologies net plunged. JetBlue traffic in July soared and load factor jumped. J2 Global lifted earnings forecast. Meredith beats revenue estimates. News Corp net loss narrowed.[/R]

Tollbooth Index slipped 78.16 or 0.5% to 15,944.94 but for the year-to-date soared 15.9%.

Earnings Review

Air Lease Corp ((AL)) gained 1.2% or 53 cents to $44.67 after the aircraft leasing services provider said revenues in the second-quarter ending in June jumped 4.4% from a year ago to $398 million.

Net income in the quarter soared 14.2% to $115.2 million or $1.04 per diluted share from $100.9 million or 92 cents in the same quarter last year.

Applied Industrial Technologies Inc ((AIT)) fell 20 cents to $74.35 after the industrial products distributor reported net sales in the fourth-quarter ending in June surged 31.7% from a year ago to $897.7 million.

Net income in the quarter plunged 23.6% to $40.4 million or $1.03 per diluted share from $52.9 million or $1.34 in the same quarter last year.

The industrial products distributor forecasted fiscal 2018 sales growth in the range of 16% to 18% and diluted earnings per share in the range of $4.48 to $4.68.

JetBlue Airways Corp ((JBLU)) slid 14 cents to $18.36 after the airline services provider said traffic in July soared 6.2% to 4.76 billion revenue passenger miles and load factor that increased to 88.9% from 87.1% while capacity grew 4.1% to 5.35 billion available seat miles from a year ago month.

j2 Global, Inc ((JCOM)) declined 6.7% or $5.82 to $80.60 after the Internet and cloud services provider reported revenues in the second-quarter ending in June jumped 5.4% from a year ago to $287.9 million.

Net income in the quarter slumped 9.2% to $28.5 million or 57 cents per diluted share from $31.4 million or 63 cents in the same quarter last year.

The cloud services provider reaffirmed fiscal 2018 revenues between $1.20 billion and $1.25 billion and operating profit between $480 million and $505 million.

J2 Global lifted fiscal 2018 diluted earnings per share forecast in the range of $6.16 and $6.46 from the earlier estimate of $5.95 and $6.25.

Meredith Corporation ((MDP)) plunged 5.8% or $3.10 to $50.15 after the publications and marketing services provider said total revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in June soared 77% from a year ago to $788.1 million.

Net income in the quarter tumbled 61.2% to $16.8 million from $43.3 million and diluted loss per share swung to 6 cents from diluted earnings per share of 95 cents in the same quarter last year.

Meredith forecasted fiscal 2019 revenues in the range of $3 billion to $3.2 billion and net income of about $250 million and diluted earnings per share between $3.25 and $3.55.

News Corporation ((NWSA)) tumbled 10.7% or $1.63 to $13.63 after the media publishing services provider reported total revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in June jumped 29% from a year ago to $2.7 billion.

Net loss in the quarter narrowed to $355 million or 64 cents per diluted share from $424 million or 74 cents in the same quarter last year.