3Q24 Earnings Updates: Part One – IBM, TMUS, GOOG/GOOGL, META, AAPL, VICI

IBM (IBM): IBM shares sold off following a mixed report for 3Q24.  The selloff is mostly related to elevated expectations after the stock had doubled since October 2022, with over half of the gain coming since the start of 2024.  Our original purchase of IBM just over five years ago was based on an investment […]

2Q23 Earnings Updates: Part One – IBM, GOOG/GOOGL, META, VICI, TMUS

IBM (IBM): IBM reported an inline quarter with the normal give and take that any large, diversified corporation will experience.  All guidance was reiterated with a slight boost to the growth rate for software revenue.  Software was a little better than expected driven by double-digit growth at Red Hat for hybrid cloud and transaction processing […]

Bard Does Northlake 1Q23 Earnings Updates: Part One – IBM, GOOG, ATVI, META, TMUS, and SONY

Given the excitement surrounding Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) since Microsoft and OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in November, we thought it would be educational, interesting, and fun to let GAI write our regular quarterly earnings updates.  ChatGPT only has data through 2021, so we are using Google’s GAI app, Bard. Kind of fun to […]

4Q22 Earnings Updates: Part Two – SONY, META, AAPL, GOOG/GOOGL, ATVI and DIS

SONY Corporation (SONY): SONY reported a good quarter with modest beats on operating income driven by profit margins.  The company passed through a portion of the beat to its full-year operating income forecast.  Often companies that only pass through a portion of an earnings beat are penalized, but that usually does not apply to SONY […]

January’s Market Rally Consistent with Northlake’s Favored Strategies

The stock market is off to a great start in 2023 in line with Northlake’s Market Outlook anticipating more volatility, avoidance of a severe recession, and positive returns in 2023.  We are encouraged that our models, favored themes, and individual stocks are off to a good start. Our Market Cap model favors mid cap again […]

3Q22 Earnings Updates: Part One – IBM, GOOG, META, CMCSA, TMUS, AAPL, VICI

IBM (IBM): IBM reported good results in a tough macro environment, further increasing our confidence in the transformation underway at the company.  Revenue and EPS exceeded expectations with strength across all segments of the company.  Management raised 2022 revenue guidance and maintained free cash flow guidance.  The only real negative in the quarter and outlook […]

2Q22 Earnings Updates: Part One – IBM, WMT, GOOG, TMUS, META, CMCSA, VICI, AAPL, SONY

IBM (IBM): IBM reported mostly solid 2Q22 results, but the stock fell victim to its strong performance from earlier this year.  Ahead of the report, the shares were nearly unchanged against a 20-30% decline for major stock market averages.  This strong performance raised expectations for IBM, and a good report with a few small flaws […]

1Q22 Earnings Update: Part One – IBM, GOOG, SONY, ATVI, TMUS

Due to Steve’s travel schedule, we are going to try something new this quarter with our quarterly blog updates on individual stocks held widely in Northlake accounts.  Rather than publish a separate commentary on each stock, we are going to produce two or three updates with each containing comments on several stocks.  This will result […]

Alphabet Announces Stock Split and Strong Earnings

Alphabet (GOOG/GOOGL) reported another outstanding quarter led by search advertising along with solid contributions from YouTube and Cloud.  Profit margins were better than expected.  All this good news was juiced by the announcement of a 20-for-1 stock split that will become effective in July.  We see little economic value in stock splits and history suggests […]

Alphabet Shines Amid Digital Ad Industry Challenges

Alphabet (GOOG/GOOGL) reported better than expected earnings with revenues, expenses, and EPS all coming in ahead of expectations.  The revenue upside was especially impressive given the turmoil in internet and mobile advertising caused by Apple’s privacy initiatives.  Google did not escape completely unscathed as YouTube ad growth was a few percent less than expected (although […]