Toronto, Ontario — In this weekly Tuesday Ticker, Magna raises its annual outlook amid stellar Q2 financials; Nikola hires its fourth CEO and Driven Brands sees some stock dips.
Mega Magna
Magna International reported its Q2 financials last week, beating out analyst estimates with 17 percent revenue growth, to $10.98 billion, the company said Friday.
It also raised its full-year profit and sales outlook estimates. The Ontario-based parts provided now expects revenues between $41.9 billion and $43.5 billion, compared to previous estimates of $40.2 billion to $41.8 billion.
The adjusted annual income outlook is now between $1.4 billion and $1.6 billion; before Friday’s call, the forecast was between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion.
Magna cited easing supply chain constraints and strong demand as contributing factors to its growth. Further, global lightweight automotive production rose 15 percent, in line with Magna’s own increases.
Shares of the company rose three percent immediately following the results announcement but levelled later Friday afternoon.
As of Friday, Aug. 4 at 10:30 EST, shares of Magna traded at $81.99 per share, up eight percent in the last month, and up four percent year-to-date.
Four for four
Controversial electric semi truck maker Nikola named its fourth CEO in four years on Friday.
Stephen Girsky, a former GM board member and Chevrolet CEO advisor, joins the company as it navigates depleting cash reserves and ongoing supply chain constraints; not to mention a delisting notice from Nasdaq.
Nikola said its current CEO, Michael Lohscheller, stepped down due to a family health matter.
Shares of the company were down 11 percent Friday morning, trading at US$3 per share—a far cry from its best-ever trading price of US$65.90 in June 2020.
Driven’s dip
Driven Brands stock reached an all-time low last week following its Q2 financial results call.
The results call was later followed by an announcement that two investigations—one by Wolf Popper and another by Holzer and Holzer—had been launched on Driven Brands in regard to its compliance with federal securities laws.
As for the company’s Q2 results, revenues were up, but earnings were down. CEO Jonathan Fitzpatrick chalked losses up to “temporary slowdowns” in Auto Glass Now acquisitions.
He said juggling numerous acquisitions simultaneously was a known risk and “as a result, [Driven Brands] is currently a few quarters behind where [it] anticipated.
“This is also contributing to our updated fiscal guidance for 2023,” he said.
Both companies with investigations noted previous comments from Fitzpatrick that attributed Q2 2022 losses to “the performance of [its] car wash segment, which has been impacted by softer consumer demand, and our U.S. glass business, which has been impacted by integration delays.”
As of Friday at 11 a.m., shares of Driven Brands traded at US$15.92 per share, down 38.49 percent over the last five days.
