Movers: 3M, Alphabet, DR Horton, J&J, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Verizon

Scott Peters
24 Jan, 2023
New York City

3M Company declined 5.5% to $115.85 after the company posted mixed quarterly results. 

Fourth quarter revenue declined 6% to $8.1 billion, reflecting  impacts of negative 2% from divestitures and  negative 5% from foreign currency translation on the strong U.S. dollar.

Net income in the quarter declined to $541 million from $1.3 billion and diluted earnings per share dropped to 98 cents from $2.31 in the previous year. 

In the quarter, the company returned $1.4 billion to shareholders through dividends and stock repurchases. 

In December 2022, 3M announced it will exit per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance manufacturing by the end of 2025 and the company is also facing investigations from California's Attorney General office.  

The company estimated full-year 2023 sales to fall between 2 % and 6% and adjusted earnings per share between $8.50 and $9.0 including a pre-tax restructuring charge between $75 million and $100 million.  

Alphabet Inc declined 1.4% to $99.85 after the parent of Google was sued by the U.S. Justice Department for the second time in as many years. 

The latest suit targets its advertising business which generated a total of $54.6 billion and seeks the company to divest part of its operations. 

The company is also facing antitrust lawsuits from several other states and California, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut joined the latest DOJ suit. 

D.R. Horton Inc increased 2% to $97.68 after the homebuilder reported better-than-expected earnings. 

Revenue in the fiscal first quarter ending in December increased 3% to $7.3 billion and net income  decreased 16% to $958.7 million from $1.1 billion and diluted earnings per share fell to $2.76 from $3.17 in the previous year. 

Home building revenue increased 1% to $6.74 billion from $6.68 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2022. 

Homes closed in the quarter decreased 6% to 17,340 homes compared to 18,396 homes closed in the same quarter a year ago. 

Net sales orders for the fiscal first quarter decreased 38% to 13,382 homes and 40% to $4.9 billion compared to 21,522 and $8.3 billion in the same quarter of the prior year.

Order cancelation rate increased to 27% in the first quarter from 15% in the prior-year quarter. 

Johnson & Johnson declined 1% to $166.71 after the healthcare company reported quarterly results that met investors expectations but the company's forward guidance was weaker-than-anticipated. 

Sales in the quarter declined 4.4% to $23.71 billion from $24.80 billion in the similar quarter last year, primarily because of lower Covid-19 vaccine sales and unfavorable exchange rate.  

Net earnings declined 25.9% to $3.52 billion or $1.33 per share from $4.74 billion or $1.77 per share in the quarter a year ago. 

US sales rose 2.9% to $12.52 billion and international sales dropped 11.5%  to $11.19 billion from last year.

The company  estimated adjusted earnings per share in a range of $10.45 to $10.65 and adjusted operating earnings per share in a range of $10.40 to $10.60. 

Lockheed Martin Corp gained 1.4% or $5.98 after the defense contractor reported sales and adjusted earnings ahead of expectations. 

Lockheed said revenue in the fourth quarter increased to $19.0 billion from $17.7 billion but net income declined to $1.9 billion from $2.0 billion or diluted earnings per share fell to $7.40 from $7.47 in the previous year. 

In full-year 2022, sales decreased to $66 billion from $67 billion and net income declined to $5.7 billion from $6.3 billion and diluted earnings per share dropped to $21.66 from $22.76 in the previous year. 

Raytheon Technologies Corp increased 1.8% or $1.69 to $97.92 after the defense contractor benefitted from arms sales for Ukraine and the company said it plans to reorganize in three business units. 

Fourth quarter revenue increased 6% to $18.1 billion from $17.04 billion and net income doubled to $1.4 billion from $685 million and diluted earnings per share rose to 96 cents from 46 cents a year ago. 

Backlog at the end of the fourth quarter was $175 billion, of which $106 billion was from commercial aerospace and $69 billion was defense orders. 

Verizon Communications Inc increased 80 cents to $39.75 after the company reported mixed quarterly results. 

Fourth quarter total operating revenue increased 3.5% to $35.25 billion from $34.1 billion and net income increased 41% to $6.7 billion from $4.7 billion and diluted earnings per share rose to $1.56 from $1.11 in the previous year. 

Broadband Internet accounts increased 416,000 and wireless postpaid connections increased 217,000 to 143 million and churn rate was 1.14%. 

The company guided total wireless revenue growth in 2023 between 2.5% and 4.5% and capital expenditure between $18.25 billion and $19.25 billion.