3 Stocks to Watch on Thursday: Kraft Heinz Co (KHC), Metlife Inc (MET) and Yelp Inc (YELP)
KHC posts mixed earnings, MET earnings suffer on spin-off and YELP misses outlook
November 2, 2017	 By Karl Utermohlen, InvestorPlace Writer	Nov 2, 2017, 7:00 am EST	 November 2, 2017
U.S. equities were mixed Wednesday, with energy stocks rising 0.9% and utilities slipping 0.5%. The S&P 500 Index gained 0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2% yesterday.
Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) Metlife Inc (NYSE:MET) and Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) reported on their quarters Wednesday, yielding mixed results due to hurricanes, spin-offs and underwhelming guidances.
Here's what happened.
Kraft Heinz Co (KHC)
Kraft Heinz unveiled its latest quarterly results, sending shares lower after hours.
The company posted earnings of 83 cents per share, beating the consensus estimate of 82 cents per share, according to data compiled by FactSet. Reveue rose 0.7% year-over-year.
Sales came in at $6.31 billion, just missing the Wall Street projection of $6.32 billion. A number of core food groups were weaker for Kraft Heinz, including processed cheese, lunch meat, nuts and cream cheese.
"We continued to build top- and bottom-line momentum from operations during the third quarter, and expect to see the same in the fourth quarter," said Kraft Heinz CEO Bernardo Hees. "There's no question that the retail environment, particularly in the United States, will remain both dynamic and challenging.
He added that the company has been investing in a number of new products that could help it turn things around.
KHC shares fell 1.5% after the bell.
Metlife Inc (MET)
MetLife posted earnings that were hurt by a couple of factors.
The first is the fact that hurricanes struck down and hurt MetLife's business during its third quarter. The company also spun off its retail life-insurance business, costing it $1.1 billion in separation-related charges.
Earnings came in at $1.21 billion for the quarter, amounting to $1.13 per share, below the $1.41 billion, or $1.27 per share from the year-ago quarter. Analysts were expecting earnings of 90 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters.
However, revenue was stronger than it was a year ago, coming in at $16.1 billion. The figure is a 1.7% improvement compared to the year-ago revenue of $15.8 billion.
MetLife added that its catastrophe costs from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma cost the company part of its 12% decline in operating earnings for its property-casualty unit to $51 million.
MET shares gained 1.2% after hours.
Yelp Inc (YELP)
YELP shares were hit hard after hours Wednesday on the company's weak outlook.
For its fourth quarter, the company expects to bring in between $211 million and $216 million in revenue, which is well below the $233.6 million Wall Street has predicted.
Additionally, Yelp's full-year revenue will be in the range of $839 million and $844 million, also missing the consensus estimate of $860.7 million. A bright spot in its earnings call was the company's third-quarter results.
For the period, the company earned $25.4 million in profit, beating the $18.4 million it earned a year ago. Earnings came in at nine cents per share, ahead of the two-cent loss that Wall Street had forecast.
Revenue came in at $222.4 million for Yelp, marking a 19% growth compared to the same period last year. Analysts were calling for earnings of $220.8 million, per Yahoo Finance.
YELP were down 1.5% this morning.
As of this writing, Karl Utermohlen did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/11/stocks-watch-thursday-kraft-heinz-co-khc-metlife-inc-met-yelp-inc-yelp/.