Stocks fell on Wednesday morning after the Department of Justice announced a wide-sweeping antitrust review of large tech companies. The U.S. regulatory body didn’t name specific businesses subject to its new probe. But the DOJ did say it will “consider the widespread concerns that consumers, businesses, and entrepreneurs have expressed about search, social media, and some retail services online” — a seeming indication of its focus on Google parent Alphabet, Facebook, and Amazon.com. As of 10:15 a.m. EDT, shares of all three companies traded modestly lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) fell 64 points to 27,285, and the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) was down slightly to 3,005.
On the earnings front, however, shares of both Snap (NYSE: SNAP) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) bucked the negative trend in the wake of their respective second-quarter updates.
Snap’s solid quarter
Shares of Snap were up nearly 15% after the Snapchat operator announced better-than-expected second-quarter results. Snap’s quarterly revenue soared 48% year over year to $388 million, accelerating from 39% growth last quarter and well above consensus estimates for revenue closer to $360 million. On the bottom line, that translated into an adjusted net loss of $82.2 million, or $0.06 per share, narrowed from a $0.14-per-share loss in the year-ago period and beating estimates by roughly $0.04 per share.
Man in white dress shirt and tie celebrating in front of a wooden arrow chart indicating gains.
Snap boasted 203 million daily active users at the end of the quarter, up from 190 million three months earlier and 188 million a year ago. Those users created over 3.5 billion new Snaps each day.
“The growth in our community, engagement, and revenue is the result of several transitions we completed over the past 18 months,” stated CEO Evan Spiegel. “We look forward to building our momentum and making significant ongoing progress in each of these areas.”
To that end, Snap sees third-quarter 2019 revenue arriving between $410 million and $435 million, good for year-over-year growth between 37.6% and 46%. Here again, most analysts were modeling third-quarter revenue closer to $401 million, well below the bottom end of the company’s guidance.
Chipotle wraps up a beat
Chipotle stock jumped 6.4%, touching a fresh all-time high after the fast-casual burrito maker told investors its second-quarter revenue climbed 13.2% to $1.43 billion — exceeding estimates for $1.41 billion — helped by an impressive 10% increase in comparable-restaurant sales (comps). That translated into adjusted net income of $112.9 million, or $3.99 per share, above estimates for $3.76 and up a whopping 39% from the year-ago period.
CEO Brian Niccol noted this was the company’s sixth straight quarter of accelerating comps growth, demonstrating “continued progress on [Chipotle’s] key strategic initiatives.”
“These strong results were delivered despite a tougher year over year comparison and benefited from better restaurant operations, more effective marketing, and leveraging our digital make line to grow sales and expand access,” Niccols elaborated.
Given its relative outperformance so far this year, Chipotle now expects comparable-sales growth in the high single digits, an increase from its previous forecast for a mid- to high-single-digit gain. The company also reiterated its target for 140 to 155 new restaurant openings in 2019.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Steve Symington has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends GOOGL, GOOG, AMZN, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and FB. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.