Shares in Netflix rose in pre-market trading after company executives outlined ambitious long-term goals, including a market valuation of $1trn by the end of the decade.
NasdaqGS - Delayed Quote • USD At close: April 25 at 4:00:01 PM EDT
The streaming giant, which is due to report first-quarter earnings on Thursday, has forecast an 11% increase in revenue for the opening quarter of 2025. On a foreign-exchange neutral basis, that equates to 14% growth — slightly below full-year guidance due to the timing of recent price increases and seasonal trends in its advertising business.
Netflix expects total revenues for the quarter to reach $10.416bn, representing a year-on-year increase of 11.2%. Analysts, however, are projecting slightly higher revenues of $10.54bn, reflecting anticipated growth of 12.5%.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Netflix executives shared their long-term strategic goals in a recent internal meeting, including plans to double annual revenue and triple operating income by 2030. Citing individuals familiar with the meeting, the report said Netflix aims to grow revenues from $39bn last year to nearly $80bn by the end of the decade.
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The company also has aggressive targets for its advertising business, forecasting global ad revenues to reach $9bn, up sharply from the $2.15bn generated in the US alone.
Meta shares slipped in pre-market trading as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg took the stand to defend the company against antitrust allegations brought by the US Federal Trade Commission.
NasdaqGS - Delayed Quote • USD At close: April 25 at 4:00:02 PM EDT
“They decided that competition was too hard and it would be easier to buy out their rivals than to compete with them,” FTC lawyer Daniel Matheson told the court.
Meta, which purchased Instagram for $1bn in 2012 and WhatsApp for $19bn two years later, dismissed the lawsuit as “misguided,” noting that both acquisitions were reviewed and approved by regulators at the time.
A ruling in favour of the FTC could have sweeping consequences for the tech giant, potentially forcing Zuckerberg to break up the company. That could include spinning off Instagram and WhatsApp — two platforms that are now central to Meta’s global advertising business.
Meta relies on the 3.3 billion daily users it claims across its platforms as one of the core selling points of its ad business, which last year alone raked in more than $160bn in revenue.
But the government argued repeatedly in opening statements that Meta’s large user base reflected not simple success, but a lack of choice, saying that “consumers do not have reasonable alternatives” to Meta’s platforms.
Shares in the major US automaker fell into correction territory ahead of Tuesday’s US opening bell, reversing gains from the previous session when investor optimism around potential tariff exemptions briefly lifted sentiment across the sector.
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The automakers “need a little bit of time” to move their production to the US, Trump said during a meeting on Monday with Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office.
“I’m looking for something to help some of the car companies, where they’re switching to parts that were made in Canada, Mexico and other places, and they need a little bit of time, because they’re going to make them here,” Trump said. “But they need a little bit of time, so I’m talking about things like that.”
Trump’s 25% tariff on foreign-made vehicle imports came into effect on April 3 and is set to extend to imported automotive parts in early May, raising concerns throughout the industry over rising costs and supply chain disruptions.
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“The current Trump tariffs could change the paradigm for the US auto industry for years to come,” wrote Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. He estimated that the tariffs would add around $100bn in annual costs to the sector — a burden he expects to be passed directly onto consumers.
According to Wedbush projections, new vehicle sales could drop by as much as 15% to 20% in 2025 due to what Ives described as “demand destruction.” He also warned that the average price of a car could rise between $5,000 and $15,000 as manufacturers pass on the additional expense.
Shares in LVMH fell sharply on Tuesday after the world’s largest luxury group reported weaker-than-expected first-quarter sales, as soft demand in the US and continued sluggishness in China raised fresh concerns about the resilience of the luxury sector.
The group’s shares dropped over 7% in early Paris trading, following a 3% decline in quarterly revenues — a miss against analysts’ expectations for 2% growth.
The disappointing results provide an early indication that 2025 could prove challenging for luxury companies, already grappling with heightened macroeconomic uncertainty and the potential fallout from Trump’s announced tariffs, which have stoked recession fears.
LVMH, whose brands include Louis Vuitton and Dom Pérignon and is controlled by Europe’s richest man, Bernard Arnault, generates roughly a quarter of its revenue in the US. The group said sales in the US fell 3% in the first quarter, with American consumers pulling back on beauty and spirits purchases. In Asia (excluding Japan), sales slumped 11%.
"We all need to ... stay very calm because we are in unknown territories," LVMH's chief financial officer Cecile Cabanis told analysts. "The worst is never certain."
Total group sales for the three months to the end of March came in at €20.3bn.
"Investor concerns around underlying demand recovery are likely to be amplified based on these results," said analysts at RBC, adding that further earnings cuts are likely, because of tariff-related risks.
Louis Vuitton, its biggest brand, still outperformed the division while Dior continued to lag, Cabanis said. Analysts at Bernstein noted that creative changes at Dior have been “slow to appear”.
Shares in B&M European Value Retail rose on Tuesday after the discount chain issued a year-end trading update, narrowing its profit guidance and said a new chief executive will be announced "in the coming weeks".
The company said it expects earnings for the year to March to come in "above the midpoint" of its previously downgraded guidance range of £605m to £625m, issued in February following a profit warning.
The upbeat revision came alongside confirmation that a new chief executive will be named “in the coming weeks”.
While like-for-like sales in the UK fell 3.1% over the full year — including a 1.8% decline in the fourth quarter — the company’s French operations delivered a stronger performance. Revenues in France rose 7.8% for the year, with same-store sales up 2.6%. Fourth-quarter growth in France reached 9.1%, offering a bright spot in an otherwise mixed update.
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In line with previous guidance, B&M opened 45 new UK stores during the year, which the company reports are “performing in line with our expectations and are generating strong returns.” The group maintains a robust pipeline for the coming year, with plans for another 45 new store openings.
B&M, which sells everything from hats and heaters to toys and food, operates more than 1,100 stores across the UK and France under its eponymous brand and Heron Foods.
Other companies in the news on Tuesday 15 April
IntegraFin Holdings (IHP.L)
S & U (SUS.L)
Everyman Media (EMAN.L)
Accesso Technology (ACSO.L)
Rio Tinto (RIO.L)
LM Ericsson (ERIC)
Bank of America (BAC)
United Airlines (UAL)
Citigroup (C)
Newcore Gold (NCAUF)
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
Albertsons (ACI)
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