Robinhood Markets Q4 22 – 08/02 – it's been a difficult few months for Robinhood Markets although there does appear to be some stabilisation in the share price, having hit record lows last summer. They are still below the peaks seen in November in the lead-up to their Q3 numbers which saw revenues modestly beat forecasts, coming in at $361m, while losses came in at $0.20c a share, or $175m. The move towards crypto is still not showing the returns management would have liked, with $51m in revenue from that part of the business. The shares have seen a modest rebound since the end of last year pushing above $10 a share, however the outlook is set to remain challenging, given the uncertainty around the crypto space and the recent collapse of FTX, and other failures. That $38 IPO price seems a world away right now. Losses are expected to come in at $0.10c a share.
Uber Q4 22 – 08/02 – when Uber reported back in November the shares briefly popped higher after the company reported a decent increase in Q3 revenues to $8.34bn, however the gains proved short lived. Losses came in higher than expected at $1.2bn principally due to revaluations of some of Uber's equity investments. EBITDA came in at $516m well above estimates with gross bookings in the quarter rising to $29.1bn a rise of 26%. In respect of their respective businesses' bookings were evenly split at $13.7bn each for mobility. On revenues this saw a split of $3.8bn for mobility and $2.8bn in delivery. For Q4 Uber said it expects to see gross bookings improve to between 23% and 27% year over year with an adjusted EBITDA of $600 million to $630 million. Q4 losses are expected to come in at $0.12c a share.
Activision Blizzard Q4 22 – 06/02 –.it was just over a year ago that Microsoft put in its $68.7bn, $95 a share bid for the Activision business in a move that had many expressing concerns about Microsoft restricting new content to its own Xbox platform, and not allow games on its nearest competition, which is Sony's PlayStation, and the PS5. While some have argued that this would be against its own interests and curtail its revenue stream, this wouldn't be unusual given that Microsoft has got itself into trouble by bundling hardware and software previously. Since those peaks Activision shares have slipped back on a combination of a slowdown in gaming revenues as demand for Xbox and online games starts to slow due to shrinking consumer incomes. This perhaps isn't as surprising at first glance as it appears given that game prices have increased quite sharply in recent months. There is also the fact that EU, US and UK regulators are looking into the deal and could block or add conditions to the deal getting approval. In Q3 Activision saw net revenues decline by 13.9% to $1.78bn with game sales accounting for 13% of that total, a decline of 45%. Net income fell almost 32% to $435m. The latest version of Call of Duty – Modern Warfare II is expected to see a pickup in Q4, however given that Vanguard disappointed this is by no means certain. Increased price points may also have a part to play in the recent slowdown in sales. It's been notable that prices for these sorts of marque games are now nearer to the £60 level than they were two years ago when £45 was more the sector average. Profits are expected to come in at $1.52c a share.
