Telephone & Data Systems Inc Bottom Line Advances In Q1

Telephone & Data Systems Inc (TDS) revealed a profit for its first quarter that advanced from last year.

The company’s earnings came in at $69 million, or $0.59 per share. This compares with $59 million, or $0.50 per share, in last year’s first quarter.

Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.41 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue came in at $1.26 billion, equal to the mark posted in the same period last year.

Telephone & Data Systems Inc earnings at a glance:

-Earnings (Q1): $69 Mln. vs. $59 Mln. last year.
-EPS (Q1): $0.59 vs. $0.50 last year.
-Analysts Estimate: $0.41
-Revenue (Q1): $1.26 Bln vs. $1.26 Bln last year.

Apple Quarterly Revenue, Profit Beats Wall Street Estimates, Stock Pops

Apple reported earnings $58.3 billion in revenue last quarter and $2.55 earnings per share, beating expectations on both fronts.

Wall Street’s revenue consensus was about $54.6 billion but the estimates varied dramatically given the uncertainties.

Consensus profit forecast was $2.27 a share, but again, the range was wide.

The company recently introduced a cheaper version of its phone, the iPhone SE in April. During the quarter, it came out with a new iPad Pro model and a refreshed MacBook Air.

Executives will take questions for analysts on a call at 5 pm ET with more details on the pandemic’s impact and outlook on iPhone production, Apple TV+ and the 5G rollout, among other things.

Apple TV+ debuted last November with eight original show and has been growing its content offering steadily but been a rather quiet entrant to the streaming warns. Earlier Thursday the company released three new ads for the service on YouTube.

After a strong fiscal first quarter Apple was the first major U.S. company to warn a month after, in late February, that it had to scrap financial guidance given supply chain issues in China. Other companies soon joined the chorus. Its stores remain shuttered save for ones that have reopened in China and one location in Korea.

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Coronavirus puts damper on global smartphone production

Global smartphone production is seeing its biggest-ever slump as the coronavirus pandemic has smothered global demand.

Industry firm TrendForce said it expects production to dip 16.5 percent year-over-year to 287 million phones in the June quarter, continuing a slide that saw output drop 10 percent in the March quarter, when the outbreak spread and peaked in China before sweeping its way west to Europe and the US.

Samsung will retain its No. 1 ranking on the global leaderboard, and Apple is staying firm at No. 3, but both are expected to lose market share to their Chinese rivals who are seeing demand to wake back up as the country begins its recovery. Apple’s market share will slip to 12.6 percent this quarter from 13.5 percent in the last, TrendForce said.

TrendForce cut its annual output forecast to 1.24 billion smartphones, down 11.3 percent from 2019, from 1.35 billion.

“The pandemic is now making its effects felt on the demand side of the smartphone market by tanking major economies worldwide,” TrendForce said.

On Wednesday, Samsung warned of declines in its mobile business in the second quarter, while Chinese rival Huawei said that it will make 48 million phones in the June quarter, up 2 million from March.

Crude Oil Futures End Sharply Higher Again

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Thursday, gaining for a second straight session, reacting to reports that some major producers in the U.S. have reduced output.

Traders also appeared to be betting on hopes that a few top producers in the world, including Russia and Saudi Arabia will significantly reduce outputs to bring about some stability in oil prices.

Implied U.S. gasoline demand climbed by 10% to 5.9 million barrels per day last week, suggesting the worst might be behind the oil market. That was the fuel’s highest estimated consumption since 27 March but still 37% lower than the same week last year.

The Trump administration is expected to announce a plan to offer loans to the ailing oil industry possibly in exchange for a financial stake, the Bloomberg said, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Still, amid lingering concerns about the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the outlook for global energy demand in the near to medium term remains a major cause for concern.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up $3.78, or a little over 25%, at $18.84 a barrel.

WTI Crude oil futures for June ended up $2.72, or about 22%, at $15.06 a barrel, after rising to a high of $16.78 at one point.

Data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday, crude stockpiles rose by about 9 million barrels in the U.S. in the week ended April 24, lower than an expected rise of about 11.7 million barrels.

According to the data, crude production in the U.S. fell by 100,000 barrels per day last week.

Bank of America Has 256,000 Small-Business Loan Requests for SBA

Bank of America Corp. has 256,000 loan applications totaling about $28 billion that are ready for the Small Business Administration to process.

The requests for relief funds include 184,000 submitted on Sunday and early Monday, plus 57,000 being uploaded via the SBA’s manual process, according to an internal memo from Chief Administrative Officer Andrea Smith seen by Bloomberg.

“Once the SBA approves the loans we have submitted to them, and are trying to submit through their manual process, hundreds of thousands of small businesses in America will be getting the help that the Congress and Treasury Department intended when they created this program,” Smith wrote.

As of early Wednesday, 15,000 loans were approved and given SBA loan numbers, according to Bill Halldin, a bank spokesman.

The average loan size requested is about $100,000, and three-quarters of the applications are for businesses with 10 employees or fewer, Halldin said. California accounted for 70,000 applications totaling $7.2 billion, a small percentage of which have been approved by SBA, while Florida had 40,000 applications for $3 billion, with an average loan size of $75,000.