4Q results: Apple, Facebook, Tesla

In the United States, the fourth-quarter earnings season continues, and companies expect to be able to cope with the 2020 pandemic. What other results have they brought and how strongly do the above-mentioned titles remain in investors' portfolios?
 

Apple's revenue grew more than $ 100 billion for the first time in a quarter

The company's fourth-quarter results were again excellent, proving that Apple coped with the ongoing pandemic. In terms of revenue, the quarter was record-breaking, with the company surpassing $ 100 billion for the first time in history. Revenue grew 21% to $ 111.4 billion. What’s also worth mentioning is that the company recorded double-digit growth at the level of all productcategories, not only iPhones. Earnings per share reached $ 1.68, beating analysts' estimates as well as sales. However, the new iPhones 12, which support, among other things, 5G technology, were particularly successful.

According to Tim Cook, the numbers could have been even better if the pandemic had not forced the company to close stores around the world. Apple was helped by strong shopping days on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which were again at a record pace, despite the aforementioned pandemic and high unemployment in the United States.
 

Facebook profit grew by more than 50 %

Facebook's net income for the most quarter grew 52.7% to $ 11.22 billion. And it exceeded analysts' expectations on other levels as well. The company's revenue stems mostly from advertising and rose 22% to $ 28 billion. The number of users grew by 12% to 2.8 billion, which also exceeded analysts' expectations. A new e-commerce segment also helped boost revenue, with the company launching Facebook Pay and Facebook Shops. The services allow purchases on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The increase in popularity of this service has increased precisely due to the pandemic, and therefore it can be said that the company also handled it very well.

According to the official statement, the company may face pressure on revenues in the second half of this year. It will then be very difficult to maintain the rate of revenue growth, which was huge in the past. The company's shares reacted to the announcement of the results by weakening, which was mainly due to negative sentiment in the markets. Even next year, however, Facebook stocks should not be missing from investors' portfolios, mainly due to its stable growth,which may slow down but will certainly not stop.
 

Tesla closed another positive quarter

Due to the significant increase in the price, Tesla's results were highly expected and although investors were slightly disappointed, the decline was not relatively large. The company's shares fell 7.6% at one time but managed to correct the loss by half. The company's revenue grew $ 10.74 billion, beating analysts' estimates, but the estimated earnings per share of $ 1.03 were not exceeded and ended at 80 cents. Throughout 2020, however, it managed to maintain free cash flow, ending at $ 1.87 billion in the fourth quarter.

Tesla last year increased sales by 36% to less than half a million cars, just under the estimate of CEO Elon Musk. Next year, a further increase in production is expected, with the support of two new factories, one in the USA and the other in Germany. The company's recent listing in the S&P 500 stock index is also helping to raise the share price.