US corporate results round up
Google
Google beat earnings expectations in its latest financial results with earnings of $6.99 (£4.48) a share, but overall revenue of $17.73bn came in below analysts’ forecasts. Excluding the cost to acquire traffic, Google’s revenue in the second quarter rose 13 per cent to $14.35bn due to the strength of its core search business triggering a nine per cent rise in the company’s share price in after-hours trading.
Ebay
Revenues at e-commerce giant Ebay jumped seven per cent to $4.38bn (£2.8bn) in the three months to the end of June , according to a report released yesterday. The company’s net income fell to $83m, or seven cents per share in the second quarter, from $676m in 2014. Ebay has announced an additional $1bn share buyback programme. Its share price closed 3.39 per cent higher.
Citigroup
Citigroup, the third biggest US bank by assets, reported its highest quarterly profit since the financial crisis as chief executive Michael Corbat’s restructuring and cost-cutting efforts paid off and the bank’s legal expenses plunged. Under Corbat, who replaced Vikram Pandit as chief executive in 2012, Citi has been selling retail operations in several countries, shrinking its US branch network and disposing of non-core businesses. The bank’s shares rose three per cent to a six-and-a-half-year high of $58.18 yesterday after its adjusted earnings handily beat analysts’ estimates. Operating expenses in Citicorp, which holds the bank’s core businesses, fell six per cent to $9.8bn in the second quarter. Citi’s net income rose to $4.85bn, or $1.51 per share, from $181m, or three cents per share, a year earlier, when the bank was hit by a $3.8bn legal charge. “Through active expense and balance sheet discipline, we are on track to reach our financial targets for the year,” Corbat said in a statement yesterday.
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs reported its smallest quarterly profit in nearly four years yesterday as it set aside more than $1bn (£0.64bn) to cover potential mortgage settlements, and nervous investors pulled back from bond trading. The bank set aside $1.45bn for mortgage-related legal costs and regulatory matters, five times as much as in the second quarter last year. Goldman is among the banks targeted by a federal-state working group to go after misconduct in the pooling and sale of mortgage securities in the run-up to the financial crisis. The bank’s net profit attributable to shareholders more than halved to $916m, or $1.98 per share, in the three months to June 30, from $1.95bn, or $4.10 per share, a year earlier. The Wall Street bank’s shares were down 1.3 per cent at $210.16 in afternoon trading, even though the earnings – when excluding the provision – exceeded the average analyst estimate.