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Earnings calls, loved by some CFOs and dreaded by others, allow finance leaders and their fellow executives to verbalize their organization’s progress. Each month, CFO.com compiles interesting insights shared by CFOs during these calls for The CFO Earnings Dispatch series. These insights include statements about their company, analysis of financial data and answers to analysts’ questions.
For January’s edition, we highlight CFOs from Netflix, Halliburton, American Express, SoFi Technologies, Starbucks, Royal Caribbean Cruises, WM, Sirius XM and Southwest Airlines.
1. Netflix
Market cap: $435.99 billion Date of call: Jan. 21
In response to analyst questions, Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann described how the company still has a long pathway for growth and how the finance team is tracking metrics to measure the productivity of that growth. He broke down the company’s push to do more live events in a “disciplined way,” highlighting a strategic investment approach combined with a 1:1 ratio between content amortization and cash spend on content.
“We're less than 50% penetrated into connected households,” said Neumann. "We're only capturing about 6% of our estimated revenue market, so we have a long way to grow. It's really about where [we] put the next billion dollars and then beyond that to work in the most impactful way. Over the next year or so, you'll see that in areas like continuing to build into big-scripted TV series.”
“Our cash spend and our content cash amortization is sort of a 1.1 ratio roughly, plus or minus, between our content [amortization], which runs through the P&L and the cash spend, which runs through cash flow, and both are growing slower than our revenue growth. So, I think you should see us continuing to grow in that way for the foreseeable future as we continue to grow more and [get] more engagement,” he said.
2. Halliburton
Market cap: $22.55 billion Date of call: Jan. 22
Halliburton CFO Eric Carre responded to questions about the company’s performance disparity between Q4 and Q1. He said a variety of factors contributed to the decline, but he assured analysts that the company expects to bounce back from the sharp quarter-over-quarter variance.
“So, the main drivers behind the reduction in revenue for Q1 — I'll take it by division... on the completion and production side, it's primarily the rollout of very strong completion tool sales in Q4, that's partially offset by pickup of activity in North America land, and then you have some seasonal mix around the world,” Carre said. “On the drilling and evaluation side, the biggest impact is coming from Mexico... And then we had a particularly strong Q4 in D&E on the back of direct sales items of products.”
Though not mentioned on the call, it is likely the company is positioning itself to pursue a government contract to clean up war-torn Gaza. This would be a monumental opportunity similar to its contract in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. Recently, President Donald Trump said he will use American companies to help rebuild Gaza.
3. American Express
Market cap: $221.96 billion Date of call: Jan. 24
Though credit card interest rates are under scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers, American Express and CFO Christophe Le Caillec show no signs of slowing down. The company has reported record net card fee revenues and an expanding global merchant base. However, this expansion has come at a higher-than-usual marketing cost, with spending in that area up 16% year over year. Addressing concerns about marketing spend and new card acquisitions, Le Caillec said marketing ROI takes time to develop.
“There is definitely not a good alignment between the marketing spend in the quarter and the [new card acquisition] in the quarter,” said Le Caillec. “There is like a time difference between the two because of the accounting around how we account for the welcome incentives. But the point here is that we invested a lot in 2024 and we got [13 million new cards issued] which is a record for the company. As you think about how this is going to play out and the math we're doing about the 2025 spend, as you know, the way we think about billing growth is we split it between what's coming from this recently acquired card members, what's coming from organic [and] the growth coming from the tenured card members.”
4. SoFi Technologies
Market cap: $16.75 billion
Date of call: Jan. 27
After having its best year ever, according to CFO Chris Lapointe, SoFi plans to focus on member acquisition, revenue expansion, and profitability improvement. In the company’s most recent earnings call, LaPointe expressed confidence in SoFi’s potential for continued growth.
“As it relates to our balance sheet, we’re expecting to grow the balance sheet modestly in terms of single-digit billions, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t be able to grow other parts of the business at a more rapid pace through all of our fee-based income streams,” Lapointe said. “In terms of how we’re thinking about the loan platform business going forward, we couldn’t be more optimistic about it. We believe the business is just getting started today.”
5. Starbucks
Market cap: $126.79 billion
Date of call: Jan. 28
Starbucks, the coffee giant whose new CEO is implementing sweeping changes, saw its CFO Rachel Ruggeri highlight both the successes and growing pains of the company’s “Back to Starbucks” campaign. While Q1 revenue was flat, new store openings helped offset declining U.S. same-store sales, which dropped 4% year over year.
“Our Rewards customers continue to be incredibly important, but we’ve seen value as we speak to all of our customers. And as we’ve shifted out of discounts into more broad-based marketing, that’s helped us reach a broader base of customers. [In] this quarter, even though we’re early in the turnaround, we saw good signs of progress,” Ruggeri said. "As [CEO Brian Niccols] shared, we had growth in the morning [hours]. We had growth across our customer base but our [non-Starbucks Rewards] customers grew quarter over quarter. And importantly, we saw their growth as high as where we were about a year ago. So that gives us a lot of confidence that it’s the right strategy.”
6. Royal Caribbean Cruises
Market cap: $70.60 billion
Date of call: Jan. 28
As Royal CaribbeanCruises launches two new ships this year, The Star of the Seas and Celebrity Xcel, CFO Naftali Holtz said financing for the ships is already secured through $5 billion in committed funding. The company is also focusing on acquiring ports in Mexico and The Bahamas while modernizing at least one liner in 2025.
“We’re generating a significant amount of cash flow, and our focus is to continue to expand margin as we grow the business that will accelerate cash flow and allow us to invest in our key priorities, maintain an investment grade balance sheet metric and also do capital returns. And so the size of the company and the generation of the cash flow really we feel is allowing us to achieve all those things,” said Holtz.
7. Waste Management (WM)
Market cap: $90.14 billion
Date of call: Jan. 30
WM CFO Devina Rankin highlighted the company’s growth potential in 2025, including projections of nearly $1 billion in expected EBITDA growth. During the year, the company will look to continue where it left off in 2024 through large marketing campaigns and events, particularly in professional sports.
“It's going to be another great year of free cash flow growth…We always talk about EBITDA being the long pole in the tent with regard to free cash flow conversion and with almost $1 billion of EBITDA growth expected in the year ahead, we're going to have another great conversion to more cash flow from operations,” said Rankin.
8. Sirius XM
Market cap: $8.7 billion
Date of call: Jan. 30
Satellite radio provider Sirius XM is focused on streamlining operations and improving efficiency, according to CFO Thomas Barry. Though new vehicles such as Rivians and Teslas now come equipped with Sirius XM subscriptions, the company faces competition from smartphone integration software like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which provide access to other streaming services. These not only draw their customers away from using their product by providing access to other streaming services but are now required to use Sirius XM as their branded hardware like radios and transmitters inside vehicles has been phased out.
“We're looking to optimize the overall efficiency of the company. And so, we’re looking across all areas,” Barry said. “Right now, we're really focused in the near term on the roadmap and the product costs, as well as optimizing our marketing strategy. But I will say there’s also some level of investment as we redirect and work on our product roadmap going forward.”
9. Southwest Airlines
Market cap: $18.21 billion
Date of call: Jan. 30
In her final earnings call before retirement, Southwest Airlines CFO Tammy Romo was praised by CEO Bob Jordan. Though her replacement has not been named, the airline is outsourcing the hiring process and expects to have a new CFO in place before its next earnings call in April.
CEO Bob Jordan said: “[Tammy has been] our chief financial officer since 2012. Over the years, she’s led us through times of great prosperity that provided for lucrative shareholder returns. She’s an innovative leader, who is instrumental in the success of countless endeavors. She leaves Southwest with a fortress balance sheet, investment-grade rated by all three credit agencies and Tammy is a humble, generous and inspirational leader.”
