US results round-up: Uber, PayPal, General Motors

There were different reactions to results from these household names. Find out who the big movers are.

Uber Technologies, Q1 results after hours Wednesday

These results failed to excite investors and shares in Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) continue to lack support. Food delivery did grow again in the first quarter, but risk here is that consumers shift from delivery to eating out as restaurants reopen after Covid. Uber will need this boom in takeaway deliveries to continue if it is to achieve its ambition of being profitable by the end of the year.

Ride-hail bookings were little better than the previous quarter. An adjusted loss of $359 million for the three months, or $0.42 per share, is also enough to make you wince, but it was still better than feared.   

Uber remains under pressure from the new US administration which wants gig workers classified as employees. The outcome of this row over worker status could remain an overhang for Uber until a resolution is achieved. 

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PayPal, Q1 results after hours Wednesday

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) proved there’s still life in US earnings season with its best ever set of first-quarter results. 

Net revenue of $6.03 billion was up 29% on last year and just beat Wall Street forecasts, but an 84% surge in operating income gave earnings per share of $1.22, which smashed expectations for little more than $1.00. At the end of an incredible quarter that generated 4.4 billion payment transactions, Paypal had 392 million active accounts. Total payment volume of $285 billion also easily exceeded estimates. 

There’s more to come from PayPal. Upgrading expectations for second-quarter results surprised the market and should put a floor under the share price which had begun to show signs of weakness. Look out for a 5% increase in second-quarter earnings per share to $1.12 on revenue of $6.25 billion.

General Motors, Q1 results Wednesday

To read the headlines you’d think there was only one motor manufacturer left that mattered, but don’t write off General Motors (NYSE:GM). It’s 12 years since GM became the largest ever industrial bankruptcy and a government-backed turnaround plan began. Life hasn’t been easy, but the share price has quadrupled since the pandemic lows and now sits near a record high. 

It may have been forced to shut factories because of the global semiconductor shortage, but first-quarter results reminded us of this iconic American firm’s power. Expect annual profits to impress.

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