Chicago, IL – February 3, 2025 – Zacks Equity Research shares AngloGold Ashanti plc AU as the Bull of the Day and Halliburton Co. HAL as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Apple AAPL and Meta Platforms META.
Here is a synopsis of all four stocks.
AngloGold Ashanti is a large cap gold mining company. Headquartered in Denver, it is registered in England and Wales. It has operations, projects, and explorations in 11 countries across 4 continents including Tanzania, the DRC, Ghana, Guinea, Egypt, Cote d'Ivoire, Australia, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia.
In Nov 2024, it acquired Centamin plc which added the Sukari gold mine in Egypt and exploration interests in Egypt and the Cote d'Ivoire.
On Nov 7, 2024, AngloGold Ashanti reported its third quarter results and missed on the Zacks Consensus by $0.08. Earnings were $0.56 versus the consensus of $0.64.
But Zacks only has one estimate on the company for the quarterly results.
Average price of gold received was up 28% to $2449 from $1908 an ounce in the third quarter of 2023.
The company saw a 17-fold increase in free cash flow to $347 million, up from $20 million the prior year thanks to tight control of costs and active management of the working capital. With the higher price of gold, the cost cutting flowed through to the bottom line.
Free cash flow was $540/oz.
Analysts are bullish on this gold miner as gold prices continue to hit new highs. AngloGold Ashanti is expected to report full year 2024 results on Feb 19, 2025.
2 estimates are higher for 2024 in the last 30 days. That has pushed the Zacks Consensus up to $2.81 from $2.50 in that time. That's earnings growth of 2,654% as the company lost $0.11 last year.
Analysts are bullish on 2025 too. 2 estimates are higher in the last 30 days which has pushed the Zacks Consensus up to $3.83 from $2.75. That is further earnings growth of 36.5%.
Gold is on the move again in 2025 so this gold miner is moving higher as well. However, it is well outpacing the Gold ETF, adding 24.1% year-to-date compared to just 5.3% for the Gold ETF (GLD).
On a price-to-earnings (P/E) basis, AngloGold Ashanti is cheap. It trades with a forward P/E of just 7.8. A P/E under 15 usually indicates a company has value, but one under 10 means it is dirt cheap.
AngloGold Ashanti also pays a dividend, currently yielding 1.5%.
If you are looking for a gold miner with big earnings growth, and free cash flows, then AngloGold Ashanti should be on your short list.
Halliburton Co. is expecting a soft North American energy services market in 2025. This Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) is expected to see declining earnings this year.
Halliburton is a leading provider of products and services to the energy industry worldwide. Founded in 1919, it provides technologies, products and services that help customers maximize the value of their assets throughout their life cycle.
On Jan 22, 2205, Halliburton reported its fourth quarter 2024 results and met on the Zacks Consensus of $0.70. It has only missed on earnings once in the last 5 years.
However, it was mixed results in its two largest segments, North America and International.
North American revenue in the fourth quarter fell 7% sequentially to $2.2 billion. The decline was primarily driven by lower stimulation activity and decreased fluid services in the U.S. land and Canada, along with lower wireline activity in U.S. land.
International revenue, however, rose 3% sequentially to $3.4 billion with a mixture of outlooks among the segments.
Latin America, for instance, fell 9% sequentially to $953 million primarily due to lower activity across multiple product lines in Mexico and decreased pumping services and lower wireline activity in Argentina.
However, Europe/Africa saw a jump of 10% sequentially to $795 million primarily due to improved drilling-related services in the North Seas as well as increased pressure pumping services and higher fluid services in Africa.
Middle East/Asia also showed growth, rising 7% sequentially to $1.6 billion primarily due to higher stimulation activity and increased fluid services in the Middle East, higher completion tool sales in Kuwait and the UAE and improved drilling services throughout Asia.
But Halliburton warned that North America would be sequentially “softer” in 2025 and it was already soft.
The analysts were too bullish about 2025 going into the fourth quarter earnings report and have now cut estimates to get in line with the company’s current expectations. 10 estimates have been cut, and none raised, for 2025 since the earnings report.
The 2025 Zacks Consensus Estimate has fallen to $2.67 from $3.05 in the last 30 days. That is an earnings decline of 10.7% from 2024, when the company made $2.99.
Shares of Halliburton have been sliding the last 6 months. It is down 25.1% during that time, including 6.2% in 2025.
It trades with a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 9.7. A P/E under 10 usually indicates a stock is dirt cheap.
But Halliburton’s earnings are also in decline, which indicates the possibility of it being a value trap.
Halliburton generated $2.6 billion in free cash flow in 2024 and shared some of it with shareholders. The company has a share repurchase program and pays a dividend, currently yielding 2.6%.
Investors interested in energy services companies like Halliburton might want to wait on the sidelines until the weakness in North America subsides and the earnings outlook improves.
The 2024 Q4 earnings season continues to roll along, with this week’s reporting docket notably stacked. It’s been a positive cycle so far, kicked off by inspiring results from the big banks.
Throughout the period, we’ve seen several companies, namely Mag 7 members Apple and Meta Platforms, break quarterly records, reflecting their operational successes.
Let’s take a closer look at the record-breaking releases.
Concerning headline figures in its release, Meta Platforms posted adjusted EPS of $8.02 and record sales of $48.4 billion, reflecting growth rates of 50% and 21%, respectively. Net income of $20.9 billion was the company’s highest read ever.
Shares have been red-hot over the last year on the back of strong quarterly results, gaining nearly 80% and crushing the S&P 500.
Importantly, the company’s ad business continued to perform at a high level, with revenue of $46.8 billion again exceeding our consensus estimate and reflecting 20% year-over-year growth. The advertising results for META have been rock-solid over recent periods, regularly bringing sizable beats.
In addition, META continues to see nice user growth, with Family Daily Active People (DAP) improving 4% year-over-year to roughly 3.4 billion. Average revenue per user has increased likewise amid the strong advertising efforts, improving by a sizable 41% year-over-year.
As shown below, DAP results have regularly exceeded our expectations over recent quarters. The Family Daily Active People metric includes the company’s entire family of apps, encompassing Instagram, WhatsApp,Facebook and Messenger, providing a consolidated view of activity.
Concerning headline figures in its release, Apple posted adjusted EPS of $2.40 and sales of $124.3 billion, reflecting growth rates of 10% and 4%, respectively. Both EPS and sales figures reflected all-time records for the company, with Services revenue also touching an all-time high.
Services results have regularly exceeded our consensus expectations in recent releases.
iPhone results came in a tad soft, an interesting development given the implementation of Apple Intelligence. iPhone sales of $69.2 billion fell roughly 1% year-over-year, also marginally falling short of our consensus estimate.
In addition, it’s worth noting that China sales continue to decelerate amid stiffer competition, with sales of $18.5 billion in the region down notably from the $20.8 billion mark in the year-ago period. While China continues to negatively impact results, the risk and growth cooldown has been well-known here for multiple periods, not really anything ‘new’ for the market to digest.
The company’s installed base of active devices also reached a new all-time high across all products and geographic segments, with shares popping nicely following the print in after-hours trading. The stock has nearly matched the S&P 500’s return over the last year, gaining 27.6%.
We continue to wade through the 2024 Q4 earnings cycle, with this week’s reporting docket notably rich.
The period has been positive so far, underpinned by an initial strong showing from the banks and forecasted tech strength yet again.
And so far, these two Mag 7 members have posted results that broke company records.
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