Ryanair Holdings said third-quarter adjusted profit after tax fell as higher fuel costs offset revenue gains, and narrowed its guidance for the year.
The Irish budget airline said Monday that for the quarter ended Dec. 31 adjusted post-tax profit–its preferred metric–was 15 million euros ($16.3 million) compared with EUR211 million the year before.
Revenue for the quarter was EUR2.70 billion, compared with EUR2.31 billion a year ago.
The company said revenue per passenger rose 9%, with ancillary revenue up 2% to around EUR23 and average fares up 13% to over EUR42.
The airline carried 41.4 million passengers in the quarter compared with 38.4 million a year ago. Load factor–a measure of how full a plane is–for the period fell one percentage point to 92%.
The company narrowed its profit after tax guidance for the year to between EUR1.85 billion and EUR1.95 billion, from prior guidance of between EUR1.85 billion and EUR2.05 billion.
The company said that although it will benefit from the first half of Easter traffic falling in late March, this was unlikely to fully offset weaker-than-previously-expected load factors and yields in late third quarter and early fourth quarter.
Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com
By Anthony O. Goriainoff
Ryanair Holdings said third-quarter adjusted profit after tax fell as higher fuel costs offset revenue gains, and narrowed its guidance for the year.
The Irish budget airline said Monday that for the quarter ended Dec. 31 adjusted post-tax profit–its preferred metric–was 15 million euros ($16.3 million) compared with EUR211 million the year before.
Revenue for the quarter was EUR2.70 billion, compared with EUR2.31 billion a year ago.
The company said revenue per passenger rose 9%, with ancillary revenue up 2% to around EUR23 and average fares up 13% to over EUR42.
The airline carried 41.4 million passengers in the quarter compared with 38.4 million a year ago. Load factor–a measure of how full a plane is–for the period fell one percentage point to 92%.
The company narrowed its profit after tax guidance for the year to between EUR1.85 billion and EUR1.95 billion, from prior guidance of between EUR1.85 billion and EUR2.05 billion.
The company said that although it will benefit from the first half of Easter traffic falling in late March, this was unlikely to fully offset weaker-than-previously-expected load factors and yields in late third quarter and early fourth quarter.
Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com
United Airlines Holdings Inc. on Tuesday said it was rethinking its longer-term plans for Boeing’s biggest 737 Max jet, the Max 10, after the government’s grounding of dozens of Max 9s this month raised questions over whether the aircraft maker could still deliver planes on time.
United UAL, +5.31%
Chief Executive Scott Kirby said during the airline’s earnings call on Tuesday that it wasn’t canceling its orders for the Max 10. But he said the airline was taking the jet “out of our internal plans.”
“We’ll be working on what that means exactly with Boeing,” he said. “But Boeing is not going to be able to meet their contractual deliveries on at least many of those airplanes.”
United, during the call, said that it had 277 Max 10 jets on order for the rest of the decade. Of the 107 jets set for delivery this year, 31 were Max 9s. But Chief Financial Officer Michael Leskinen said was “unrealistic” to expect those jets to arrive as currently planned.
“Look,” he said. “The reality is that with the with the Max grounding, this is the kind of straw that broke the camel’s back with believing that the Max 10 will deliver on the schedule we had hoped for.”
He added: “It’s a great aircraft. But we can’t count on it. So we’re working on alternate plans.”
The decision on the Max 10 marks the latest blow to Boeing’s BA, -1.60%
reputation, as safety concerns pile up after a panel tore off a 737 Max 9 jet flown by Alaska Airlines earlier this month.
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded 171 Boeing 737 Max 9s for inspections, leading to scores of flight cancellations for both United and Alaska ALK, +2.87%.
United, when it reported fourth-quarter results on Monday, said it expected to lose money in the first quarter, following the impact of those cancellations. Still, shares were up on Tuesday on United’s full-year profit forecast.
The FAA over the weekend also recommended that operators of Boeing’s 737-900ER planes “visually inspect mid-exit door plugs to ensure the door is properly secured.” Regulators around the world grounded the 737 Max in 2019 after two fatal crashes.
Meanwhile, Ben Minicucci, the chief executive of Alaska Airlines, in an interview with NBC News published Tuesday, said inspectors found loose bolts on “many” of its Boeing 737 Max 9s after the mid-flight blowout.
“I’m more than frustrated and disappointed,” he said in that interview. “I am angry. This happened to Alaska Airlines. It happened to our guests and happened to our people. And my demand on Boeing is, what are they going to do to improve their quality programs in-house?”
JetBlue Airways Corp. and Spirit Airlines Inc. said late Friday that they have appealed a court ruling that earlier this week blocked their planned merger.
JetBlue JBLU, -1.19%
and Spirit SAVE, +17.19%
announced the appeal in a terse press release that provided no more details, adding only that the process is “consistent with the requirements of the merger agreement.”
Wall Street was split on whether the airlines would be legally obliged to appeal the Tuesday ruling, which sided with the Justice Department in saying that a merger between low-cost JetBlue and ultra-low-cost Spirit would hurt competition.
Shares of Spirit rallied 12% after hours Friday, while JetBlue shares fell nearly 2%. Analysts at JP Morgan said this week that the ruling freed JetBlue from a “costly merger.”
The likelihood of Spirit attracting a new merger or takeover bid is considered low without a debt restructuring. Frontier Group Holdings Inc. ULCC, -2.13%
and JetBlue competed for Spirit in 2022, with Frontier ultimately bowing out in July of that year.
Raymond James analyst Savanthi Syth said in a note earlier Friday that it was “clear to us that Spirit is pressing JetBlue to appeal the antitrust ruling, but we continue to believe the chances of success are low.”
Syth has estimated that an appeal would take some four to five months.
Shares of Spirit have lost 67% in the past 12 months, while shares of JetBlue are down 41%. The U.S. Global Jets ETF JETS
has lost 9% in the same period. Those losses contrast with gains of 24% for the S&P 500 index SPX.
Alaska Airlines, United Airlines and Turkish Airlines have all grounded their Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes after part of one such jet tore away during an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday. But despite the potential safety risks for travelers and further damage to Boeing’s BA, -8.03%
reputation, some Wall Street analysts, for now, have downplayed the financial impact for the jet maker.
In part, they pointed to the company’s status as one of two major players in aircraft production — the other being Airbus EADSY, +3.52%.
They also cited a tighter supply of available aircraft and limited near-term impact, at least while investigators try to figure out the cause of the incident.
Those airlines and others took the action over the weekend after a panel on a jet blew out about 10 minutes into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 at an altitude of about 16,000 feet.
No one died in the incident. But the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the temporary grounding of certain Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft. The order covered 171 planes.
Still, some Wall Street analysts on Monday said to buy the stock anyway. They said the latest difficulties with the aircraft — which follow the 2019 grounding of Max jets by many nations following two fatal crashes — were unlikely to have a big near-term financial impact.
BofA analysts, in a research note dated Sunday, said that “at this point in time, due to the duopoly nature of the industry, we do not see this impacting orders for any of the 737 MAX variants. However, if the hits to the program do keep coming … at some point, the flying public may lose confidence in the 737 MAX which could ultimately impact sales.”
The analysts said it wasn’t clear yet whether the blowout on Friday was due to an assembly mistake at Boeing, an improper installation from fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems or oversight issues elsewhere. But they noted that the aircraft was relatively new, having been delivered on Oct. 31. And they said that “some scrutiny must be saved for regulators as well, as the FAA is ultimately responsible for certificating these aircraft before delivery.”
Spirit AeroSystems’ stock SPR, -11.13%
was down 11%.
Analysts at William Blair also said they didn’t expect a big hit to Boeing’s financials.
“While the Alaska Airlines door plug accident was terrifying, we do not believe that it will have a major financial impact, unless another incident occurs after the aircraft returns to service,” they said in a note on Monday.
Analysts there estimated that over the past two months, the Max 9 made up less than one-fifth of Boeing’s total deliveries. They said those deliveries would only be “modestly impacted over the first quarter as it could take some time to determine the cause.”
Of the 23 analyst ratings on Boeing’s stock tracked by FactSet, 18 are buy ratings or the equivalent.
However, Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker said the 737 Max 9 issues will likely disrupt first-quarter results for United Airlines UAL, +2.78%
and Alaska Air ALK, -0.21%.
“This will hopefully be a situation resolved in days/weeks rather than months, but it will also serve as a reminder of how fragile airline capacity can be despite the overhang of capacity,” Shanker said in a Monday research note.
United Airlines’ stock rose 2.4% on Monday, while Alaska Air’s dipped by 0.3%.
Along with United Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Turkish Airlines, Copa Airlines and Aeromexico grounded about 40 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes, according to reports.
According to Deutsche Bank analysts, the affected fleet accounts for 16.1% of Alaska Airlines flights and 6.6% of United flights, although United has more 737 Max 9 aircraft than Alaska.
Other airlines with the plane in their fleet include Jet Airways of India with one plane, Jin Air of Korea with three, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines KLMR,
with five and Korean Air Lines 003490, -1.52%
with nine, according to Planespotter.net.
European regulators also grounded the 737 Max 9 for inspection.
Some major airlines do not have any 737 Max 9s in their fleets, including American Airlines AAL, +7.21%,
Southwest Airlines LUV, -0.10%
and Air Canada AC, +3.42%,
according to reports.
Alaska Airlines grounded all of its Boeing 737-9 aircraft late Friday, hours after a window and piece of fuselage on one such plane blew out in midair and forced an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.
The incident occurred shortly after takeoff and the gaping hole caused the cabin to depressurize. Flight data showed the plane climbed to 16,000 feet (4,876 meters) before returning to Portland International Airport.
The airline ALK, +3.10%
said the plane landed safely with 174 passengers and six crew members.
“Following tonight’s event on Flight 1282, we have decided to take the precautionary step of temporarily grounding our fleet of 65 Boeing 737-9 aircraft,” Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci said in a statement.
Each of the aircraft will be returned to service after full maintenance and safety inspections, which Minicucci said the airline anticipated completing within days.
The airline provided no immediate information about whether anyone was injured or the possible cause.
The plane was diverted about about six minutes after taking off at 5:07 p.m., according to flight tracking data from the FlightAware website. It landed at 5:26 p.m.
The pilot told Portland air traffic controllers the plane had an emergency, was depressurized and needed to return to the airport, according to a recording made by the website LiveATC.net.
A passenger sent KATU-TV in Portland a photo showing the hole in the side of the airplane next to passenger seats. Video shared with the station showed people wearing oxygen masks and passengers clapping as the plane landed.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it was investigating an event on the flight and would post updates when they are available. The Federal Aviation Administration also said it would investigate.
The Boeing 737-9 MAX involved in the incident rolled off the assembly line and received its certification just two months ago, according to online FAA records.
The plane had been on 145 flights since entering commercial service on Nov. 11, said FlightRadar24, another tracking service. The flight from Portland was the aircraft’s third of the day.
Boeing BA, +1.66%
said it was aware of the incident, working to gather more information and ready to support the investigation.
The Max is the newest version of Boeing’s venerable 737, a twin-engine, single-aisle plane frequently used on U.S. domestic flights. The plane went into service in May 2017.
Two Max 8 jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people and leading to a near two-year worldwide grounding of all Max 8 and Max 9 planes.
The planes returned to service only after Boeing made changes to an automated flight control system implicated in the crashes.
Last year, the FAA told pilots to limit use of an anti-ice system on the Max in dry conditions because of concern that inlets around the engines could overheat and break away, possibly striking the plane.
Max deliveries have been interrupted at times to fix manufacturing flaws. The company told airlines in December to inspect the planes for a possible loose bolt in the rudder-control system.
Airbus and Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways have signed a purchase agreement for six A350F freighter aircraft with a basic price of $2.71 billion before price concessions, the companies said Friday.
Cathay said Airbus granted it significant price concessions which might be used toward the payment of the aircraft. The basic price comprises prices for airframe, optional features and engine, Cathay said.
The aircraft, expected to be delivered by the end of 2029, will expand Cathay’s cargo fleet capacity and will mainly serve long-haul destinations in North America, South America and Europe, it said.
Airbus said the A350F can carry a payload of up to 111 metric tons and can fly up to 4,700 nautical miles, or 8,700 kilometers.
Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@dowjones.com
What do Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Shawn Fain and Lina Khan have in common? On the surface, it might not seem like much — one is an impetuous tech-bro genius, another is a buy-and-hold nonagenarian investor, and the other two are a tough union boss and a business-busting regulator.
But each of them are having a serious impact on your money. They all appear on this year’s MarketWatch 50 list of the most influential people in markets. The MarketWatch 50 is our tally of the investors, CEOs, policymakers, AI players and financial…
JetBlue Airways Corp.’s stock fell 7% in premarket trades on Tuesday after the carrier warned it would post a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss, while it missed analyst estimates for its third-quarter loss and revenue.
“While we have been able to offset some of the costs associated with the challenging operational backdrop, the sheer magnitude of the air traffic control and weather-related delays has been staggering,” the carrier said.
JetBlue JBLU, +1.69%
said it lost $153 million, or 46 cents a share in the third quarter. In the year-ago quarter, JetBlue reported net income of $57 million, or 18 cents a share.
Adjusted loss in the latest quarter was 39 cents a share, wider than the FactSet consensus estimate for a loss of 25 cents a share.
JetBlue’s revenue fell 8% to $2.35 billion, below the analyst estimate of $2.38 billion.
For the fourth quarter, JetBlue expects to report an adjusted loss of 55 cents to 35 cents a share against an analyst estimate of a loss of 15 cents a share.
United Airlines Holdings Inc. reported third-quarter earnings late Tuesday that were better than Wall Street expected, but the airline’s stock fell as the company called for lower profits later in the year.
United UAL, +1.49%
earned $1.1 billion, or $3.42 a share, in the quarter, compared with $942 million, or $2.86 a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Adjusted for one-time items, the airline earned $3.65 a share.
Sales rose to $14.5 billion from $12.9 billion a year ago.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected United to report adjusted earnings of $3.38 a share on sales of $14.4 billion.
United said it expects fourth-quarter earnings of about $1.80 a share if flights to Tel Aviv are suspended through October, and of around $1.50 a share if the Tel Aviv flights are suspended through the end of the year. The Israel-Hamas war has raged for a little over a week.
Wall Street forecast fourth-quarter earnings of $2.09 a share. United’s stock dropped more than 4% in the extended session Tuesday after ending the regular trading day up 1.5%.
The airline also called for pricier jet fuel for the fourth quarter, seeing a gallon going for $3.28 on average by that time. That compares with a third-quarter fuel average price of $2.95 a gallon.
Fourth-quarter operating revenues are seen 10% higher year-on-year, and 9% higher if the Tel Aviv flights are still halted through the end of 2023. The FactSet analysts are calling for fourth-quarter revenue of $13.6 billion, from $12.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022.
United earlier this month said it placed orders for an additional 110 new jets from Boeing Co. BA, +0.36%
and Airbus SE AIR, +3.55%
as it expected air-travel demand to continue unabated.
The airline in 2021 launched its United Next plan, promising more savings by using newer, more fuel-efficient jets. These newer planes often offer premium seating, allowing the airline to sell more profitable, rarely discounted first-class and business seats.
United’s stock has gained 7% so far this year, compared with an advance of about 14% for the S&P 500 index SPX.
United is slated to hold a conference call to discuss the third-quarter results and the update through the end of the year on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Eastern.
But after results from a handful of companies soundly beat estimates in recent days, one analyst who tracks the ebbs and flows of earnings data says at least a slight profit gain for the quarter is more likely — with potentially double-digit percentage growth next year.
FactSet Senior Earnings Analyst John Butters, in a report out Friday, said that of the 32 companies in the S&P 500 Index SPX
that reported third-quarter results through Friday, 84% have reported per-share profits that were above Wall Street’s expectations, and he said they were beating those expectations by a greater degree than usual.
The index collectively, so far, was putting up a third-quarter earnings growth rate of 0.4% — compared to estimates on Oct. 6 for a 0.3% decline. Most companies, he said, tend to turn in earnings results that beat estimates.
“Based on the average improvement in the earnings growth rate during the earnings season, the index will likely report year-over-year growth in earnings or more than 0.4% for Q3,” he said.
That assessment follows quarterly results from big companies like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Delta Air Lines, Inc.. Both the bank and the airline reported better-than-expected profits. JPMorgan JPM, +1.50%
Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said U.S. consumers and businesses “generally remain healthy,” despite thinning pandemic-era savings, while Delta DAL, -2.99%
pointed to enduring “robust” travel demand.
More broadly, the quarter will be a look at how customers are faring amid still-high prices, an approaching holiday season and borrowing costs that could stay higher for longer. Recession pessimism has shown signs of easing. But Citigroup Inc.’s chief financial officer, Mark Mason, said on Friday that the bank expected a soft economic landing with a “mild recession” in the first half of 2024. However, he said such an outcome was “hard to call,” amid a strong job market.
Financial forecasts tend to fluctuate as analysts digest real-life financial data. For now, they expect S&P 500 index earnings growth of 7.6% for the fourth quarter, and 0.9% for 2023 overall, according to FactSet. Next year, at the moment, looks better, with expected earnings growth of 12.2%.
This week in earnings
More names from the financial sector will report in the week ahead, following results from JPMorgan, Citigroup C, -0.24%
and Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, +3.07%.
Reports from Morgan Stanley MS, -0.03%
and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, -0.18%
will offer more context on deal-making and market sentiment, while earnings from credit-card giants Discover Financial Services DFS, -1.47%
and American Express AXP, -0.12%
will get more granular on customer spending.
More airlines, like United Airlines Holdings Inc. UAL, -2.76%
and American Airlines Group Inc. AAL, -2.82%,
will also report, providing more detail on whether revenge travel still has any life left. Earnings are also due from Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +0.33%
and AT&T Inc. T, -0.62%.
In total 55 S&P 500 companies total will report quarterly results this week, including five from the Dow, according to FactSet.
The call to put on your calendar
Has Netflix become a utility? Hollywood’s writers will start returning to work, while talks with actors and studios have stalled. But the TV-and-film production limbo hasn’t been the only headache for streaming platform Netflix Inc., which reports quarterly results on Wednesday. The company will report amid greater pressure to boost profits, as the entertainment industry tries to find its footing in the streaming era. Ahead of the results, Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino recently expressed concern that Netflix’s NFLX, -1.53%
ad-supported plan was slow to catch on with viewers. Bernstein analysts likened the company to a mature, durable “utility.” But they also compared the stock to a long-running TV show that, while still good, might be starting to bore its audience. Executives will be hoping for better a better reception from investors.
The number to watch
Tesla margins: When EV maker Tesla Inc. reports results on Wednesday, it will be “all about margins,” Deepwater Asset Management’s Gene Munster said in note recently. Those results, and the focus on margins, will follow price cuts, and questions over profit growth and enthusiasm for Tesla’s TSLA, -2.99%
new Cybertruck. And Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, in a research note, said the year ahead could be “volatile.”
U.S. stocks are poised to rise on Monday ahead of a week of earnings and economic data releases, including quarterly reports from
Tesla, Netflix, and .
The NCAA started allowing college athletes to make money from their name, image and likeness in 2021, after decades of student-athletes saying it wasn’t fair that they didn’t receive any money while the games they played in generated millions of dollars — especially football and basketball contests. And today, many of these athletes are not just making some extra cash on the side — they’re making millions.
These NIL deals are negotiated by college athletes and their representation, and typically involve leveraging an athlete’s brand and influence through promotional means. For example, a car dealership near a university campus may ask the college’s high-profile quarterback to do a commercial for them in exchange for a monetary payment or a car. Similarly, an athlete can make money from social media, depending on how big their following is.
Football players are among the college athletes who make the most money from NIL deals, followed by men’s basketball, women’s volleyball and women’s basketball. That’s because college football and basketball have multibillion-dollar TV contracts to broadcast games, while most other sports generally have lower visibility.
With that in mind, here are the college athletes who make the most money from NIL deals according to On3’s proprietary NIL algorithm, which is based on NIL-deal data, performance, influence and exposure
10. J.J. McCarthy, $1.3 million
J.J. McCarthy of the Michigan Wolverines in action against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Getty Images
As the junior quarterback for the Michigan Wolverines football team, McCarthy is one of the six college football QBs in the top 10 of NIL earners.
McCarthy sports 276,000 followers across his social-media platforms, and has deals with Alo, Bose and Bowman.
Tie-8. Bo Nix, $1.4 million
Bo Nix of the Oregon Ducks throws a pass against the Stanford Cardinals.
Getty Images
The senior QB for the Oregon Ducks has led his team to a perfect 5-0 start this season.
Nix has 219,000 followers on social media and NIL deals with 7-Eleven, Bojangles and Celsius. Nix is considered one of the top players in the nation and has the third-best betting odds to win college football’s Heisman Trophy on DraftKings DKNG, -2.52%
sportsbook.
Tie-8. Spencer Rattler, $1.4 million
Spencer Rattler of the South Carolina Gamecocks warms up before a game against the Tennessee Volunteers.
Getty Images
The South Carolina Gamecocks senior QB has one of the more robust NIL profiles in the nation. He has deals with Mercedes-Benz MBG, -1.23%,
Leaf trading cards and Raising Canes.
Rattler also has 578,000 followers across TikTok, Instagram META, -0.71%
and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
7. Angel Reese, $1.7 million
Angel Reese of the LSU Lady Tigers during the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament championship game.
Getty Images
Reese was one of the breakout stars of the women’s March Madness basketball tournament this year. The Louisiana State University hooper led her team to the 2023 title and famously flashed a “you can’t see me” gesture in the title game.
Reese has brand deals with Airbnb, PlayStation and Intuit TurboTax INTU, -0.50%
and has appeared in ads for Amazon AMZN, +0.01%
and Pepsi Co.’s PEP, +0.59%
Starry. She also has 5.2 million followers across her social-media platforms.
During LSU’s magical title run last season, Reese set an NCAA single-season record with her 34th double-double against the Iowa Hawkeyes and was named the most outstanding player of the Final Four.
Reese is one of just two female athletes inside the top 10 in On3’s NIL valuation tracker, and the top college basketball player on the list.
6. Travis Hunter, $2.3 million
Travis Hunter of the Colorado Buffaloes signals first down after a catch against the TCU Horned Frogs.
Getty Images
Hunter was one of the college football players who transferred to the University of Colorado from Jackson State last season to follow coach Deion Sanders.
Hunter, a five-star sophomore prospect, plays on both offense and defense — as a wide receiver and a cornerback — a rarity in a high-level college program. He has 1.9 million followers on social media, a successful YouTube GOOG, -0.08%
channel, and endorsements with Celsius Energy Drink and 7-Eleven.
Hunter entered the 2023 college season as the most highly touted NFL prospect at Colorado, and Deion Sanders contends rival schools have attempted to poach him via lucrative NIL deals.
“People offered Travis Hunter a bag — about $1.5 million to try to lure him and buy him out of the transfer portal,” coach Sanders told 247Sports over the summer. “But Travis is not the kind of guy that can be bought. He isn’t built like that. Travis is a relational young man that is built on relationships and stability. And that’s what he wanted and desired. That is why he decided to ride and stay with us.”
If and when Hunter decides to declare for the NFL draft, he will likely have a multimillion-dollar contract as a rookie that could dwarf his collegiate NIL earnings.
5. Caleb Williams, $2.7 million
Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans warms up before a game against the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Getty Images
The University of Southern California QB is seen as a generational NFL prospect and the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, but he isn’t the top NIL earner.
Williams has 347,000 followers on social media, and brand deals with United Airlines UAL, -1.24%,
Alo and Beats by Dre.
Once the USC junior QB declares for the draft, his rookie contract will likely be set above $37 million, per Spotrac’s estimates.
4. Arch Manning, $2.8 million
Arch Manning of the Texas Longhorns warms up prior to a game against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Getty Images
The Texas Longhorns freshman QB is one of several top NIL earners whose family plays a role in their fame. Arch Manning is the nephew of Super Bowl champion QBs Peyton and Eli Manning, and the grandson of former NFL QB Archie Manning.
Despite being a backup quarterback with no recorded statistics, the younger Manning has 277,000 followers on social media and has a brand deal with Panini. That deal involved him autographing an extremely rare one-of-one Prizm Black card that was auctioned off for $102,500, which was later donated to charity.
Manning was a standout high school recruit, ranked No. 5 in the nation in the 2023 class, and could have an NFL future.
3. Livvy Dunne, $3.2 million
Olivia Dunne of LSU looks on during a PAC-12 meet against Utah.
Getty Images
Dunne is the only college athlete in the top 10 of NIL earners who doesn’t play basketball or football. The junior LSU gymnast is the top female NIL earner in the nation and has brand deals with Vuori clothing, Body Armor KO, +0.62%
and American Eagle Outfitters.
Dunne is the second most-followed college athlete on social media with 12.1 million followers on Instagram, TikTok and X combined.
For many years Dunne was seen as the poster child for NIL deals, and she said earlier this year that she could make as much as $500,000 from a single post.
“What I love with certain brands is getting long-term brand deals,” Dunne said on the Full Send podcast in June. “Those are probably the best because you build a relationship with the brand and they want you year after year.”
2. Shedeur Sanders, $4.8 million
Shedeur Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes celebrates as he walks off the field following an NCAAF game against the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Getty Images
University of Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders has become a phenomenon in the sports world. The 21-year-old junior made headlines after throwing for 510 yards and four touchdowns in Colorado’s season-opening shocker against No. 17–ranked Texas Christian.
Colorado has become the center of the football world since Shedeur’s father Deion took over as coach. Coach Prime’s team is currently 4-2 — the team was 1-11 last season, good for last place in its conference.
The quarterback has more than 2.3 million followers on social media, and has already inked several deals with big brands, including with yogurt producer Oikos 0KFX, -1.13%,
Gatorade and Mercedes-Benz. He has shown fans some of his new Mercedes cars on social media, too.
Overall, Shedeur Sanders’s NIL value currently sits at $4.8 million, according to On3, up from $1.5 million at the beginning of the year — that’s the highest value in all of college football. For context, that’s nearly twice the average NFL player’s salary.
1. Bronny James, $5.9 million
Bronny James playing at his high school, Sierra Canyon.
Getty Images
James has perhaps the most famous family member of any person on this list. He is the son of NBA legend LeBron James, and is currently set to begin his freshman basketball season at USC.
The younger James has yet to play a game at his new school, but will immediately be one of the most well-known players in college athletics. James has 13.5 million social media followers, the most of any college athlete, and has brand deals with Nike NKE, +1.10%
and Beats by Dre AAPL, -0.06%,
two brands his dad is also repped by.
Bronny James suffered cardiac arrest in July during a basketball practice and had to be taken to the hospital. But he’s on the road to recovery, and hopes to play basketball this season.
“Bronny is doing extremely well,” the older James said last week. “He has begun his rehab process to get back on the floor this season with his teammates at USC. (With) the successful surgery that he had, he’s on the up-and-up. It’s definitely a whirlwind, a lot of emotions for our family this summer. But the best thing we have is each other.”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Five prisoners sought by the U.S. in a swap with Iran flew out of Tehran on Monday, officials said.
Flight-tracking data analyzed by the AP showed a Qatar Airways flight take off at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, which has been used for exchanges in the past. Iranian state media soon after said the flight had left Tehran.
Two people, including a senior Biden administration official, said that the prisoners had left Tehran. They both spoke on condition of anonymity because the exchange was ongoing.
In addition to the five freed Americans, two U.S. family members flew out, according to the Biden administration official. of Tehran.
“ The cash represents money South Korea owed Iran — but had not yet paid — for oil shipments. U.S. House Democrat Jason Crow said Monday that the Biden administration’s recent negotiations led to a situation in which those funds have more, rather than fewer, strings attached. ”
Earlier, officials said that the exchange would take place after nearly $6 billion in once-frozen Iranian assets reached Qatar, a key element of the planned swap.
Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat, observed early Monday on MSNBC that the funds were available to Iran, and that South Korea could unilaterally have transferred them to Tehran, under terms of an arrangement struck by the Trump administration. The Biden administration’s recent negotiations led to a situation, he said, in which those funds have more, rather than fewer, strings attached.
The U.S. Treasury holds the power to reject any requested fund transfers to Iran, U.S. officials have said, even as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi claimed last week in an NBC interview that he was free under the deal’s terms to define the term humanitarian as he chose.
Observers, seeking to reconcile those positions, noted that Raisi likely had a domestic audience in mind and was expressing a view that he knew did not comport with reality.
Despite the exchange, tensions are almost certain to remain high between the U.S. and Iran, which are locked in various disputes, including over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran says the program is peaceful, but it now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani was the first to acknowledge the swap would take place Monday. He said the cash sought for the exchange that had been held by South Korea was now in Qatar.
Kanaani made his comments during a news conference aired on state television, but the feed cut immediately after his remarks.
“Fortunately Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea were released and God willing today the assets will start to be fully controlled by the government and the nation,” Kanaani said.
“On the subject of the prisoner swap, it will happen today and five prisoners, citizens of the Islamic Republic, will be released from the prisons in the U.S.,” he added. “Five imprisoned citizens who were in Iran will be given to the U.S. side.”
He said two of the Iranian prisoners will stay in the U.S.
Mohammad Reza Farzin, Iran’s Central Bank chief, later came on state television to acknowledge the receipt of over 5.5 billion euros — $5.9 billion — in accounts in Qatar. Months ago, Iran had anticipated getting as much as $7 billion.
The planned exchange comes ahead of the convening of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly this week in New York, where Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi will speak.
A Qatar Airways plane landed Monday morning at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, according to flight-tracking data analyzed by the AP. Qatar Airways uses Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport for its commercial flights, but previous prisoner releases have taken place at Mehrabad.
The announcement by Kanaani comes weeks after Iran said that five Iranian-Americans had been transferred from prison to house arrest as part of a confidence-building move. Meanwhile, Seoul allowed the frozen assets, held in South Korean won, to be converted into euros.
The planned swap has unfolded amid a major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf, with the possibility of U.S. troops boarding and guarding commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil shipments pass.
The deal has also already opened U.S. President Joe Biden to fresh criticism from Republicans and others who say that the administration is helping boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to American troops and Mideast allies. That could have implications in his reelection campaign as well.
On the U.S. side, Washington has said the planned swap includes Siamak Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and was later sentenced to 10 years in prison on spying charges; Emad Sharghi, a venture capitalist sentenced to 10 years; and Morad Tahbaz, a British-American conservationist of Iranian descent who was arrested in 2018 and also received a 10-year sentence. All of their charges have been widely criticized by their families, activists and the U.S. government.
U.S. official have so far declined to identify the fourth and fifth prisoner.
The five prisoners Iran has said it seeks are mostly held over allegedly trying to export banned material to Iran, such as dual use electronics that can be used by a military.
The cash represents money South Korea owed Iran — but had not yet paid — for oil purchased before the U.S. imposed sanctions on such transactions in 2019.
The U.S. maintains that, once in Qatar, the money will be held in restricted accounts and will only be able to be used for humanitarian goods, such as medicine and food. Those transactions are currently allowed under American sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic over its advancing nuclear program.
Iranian government officials have largely concurred with that explanation, though some hard-liners have insisted, without providing evidence, that there would be no restrictions on how Tehran spends the money.
Iran and the U.S. have a history of prisoner swaps dating back to the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis following the Islamic Revolution. Their most recent major exchange happened in 2016, when Iran came to a deal with world powers to restrict its nuclear program in return for an easing of sanctions.
Four American captives, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, flew home from Iran at the time, and several Iranians in the U.S. won their freedom. That same day, then-President Barack Obama’s administration airlifted $400 million in cash to Tehran.
The West accuses Iran of using foreign prisoners — including those with dual nationality — as bargaining chips, an allegation Tehran rejects.
Negotiations over a major prisoner swap faltered after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the nuclear deal in 2018. From the following year on, a series of attacks and ship seizures attributed to Iran have raised tensions.
Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear program now enriches closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. While the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has warned that Iran now has enough enriched uranium to produce “several” bombs, months more would likely be needed to build a weapon and potentially miniaturize it to put it on a missile — if Iran decided to pursue one.
Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful, and the U.S. intelligence community has kept its assessment that Iran is not pursuing an atomic bomb.
Iran has taken steps in recent months to settle some issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency. But the advances in its program have led to fears of a wider regional conflagration as Israel, itself a nuclear power, has said it would not allow Tehran to develop the bomb. Israel bombed both Iraq and Syria to stop their nuclear programs, giving the threat more weight. It also is suspected in carrying out a series of killings targeting Iran’s nuclear scientists.
Iran also supplies Russia with the bomb-carrying drones Moscow uses to target sites in Ukraine in its war on Kyiv, which remains another major dispute between Tehran and Washington.
U.S. stocks finished mostly lower Thursday, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 dragged down by disappointing earnings, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for a ninth straight day for its longest winning streak in nearly six years.
How stocks traded
The S&P 500 SPX, -0.68%
fell 30.85 points, or 0.7%, to close at 4,534.87.
The Dow DJIA, +0.47%
rose 163.97 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 35,225.18. The winning streak is its longest since a nine-day run that ended on Sept. 20, 2017, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -2.05%
ended at 14,063.31, down 294.71 points, or 2.1%.
What drove markets
After lagging behind the S&P 500 and Nasdaq for most of the year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed over the past two weeks. The blue-chip gauge is now heading for its longest streak of daily gains since Sept. 20, 2017, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
It’s the latest milestone as value stocks and other lagging sectors of the market appear to be playing “catch up,” said Paul Nolte, senior wealth adviser and market strategist at Murphy & Sylvest Wealth Management, during a phone interview with MarketWatch. Although the Dow’s year-to-date gains are still well behind those of the S&P 500, with the blue-chip gauge up 6.6% since Jan. 1, FactSet data show.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at their highest levels in nearly 16 months.
“We’re finally seeing the rotation to value,” he said. “The Dow is playing catch up with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.”
Technology stocks were lagging following earnings from Netflix Inc. NFLX, -8.41%
released late Wednesday, which showed that revenue fell short. Shares fell 8.4%.
“Netflix missed sales estimates and issued lower-than-expected Q3 guidance, while Tesla’s results showed shrinking profitability with squeeze on margins,” said Henry Allen, strategist at Deutsche Bank.
Semiconductor shares also took it on the chin, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX, -3.62%
falling 3.6%. The drop came after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. TSM, -5.05% topped second-quarter earnings expectations but reported margins that contracted, while providing a somewhat downbeat outlook.
Meanwhile, shares of IBM Corp. IBM, +2.14%
and Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +6.07%
drove the Dow higher after both companies beat earnings expectations.
Bad news for Netflix seemed to infect other megacap technology names, as Alphabet Inc. Class A GOOGL, -2.32%
and Alphabet Inc. GOOG, -2.65%
retreated, as did shares of Apple Inc. AAPL, -1.01%
and Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -2.31%
after the latter hit a record this week.
Investors also digested earnings from American Airlines Group Inc. AAL, -6.24%
and Blackstone Inc. BX, -0.61%
which reported before the opening bell. After the close, investors will hear from Capital One Financial Corp. COF, -2.52%, CSX Corp. CSX, -0.27%
and First Financial Bancorp FFBC, -0.54%,
along with a few others.
IBM IBM, +2.14%
saw shares rise 2.1% after topping profit expectations for its latest quarter Wednesday, while sporting double-digit revenue growth in its two crucial business categories of Red Hat and data and artificial intelligence.
Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +6.07%
shares rose 6.1% after the healthcare bellwether posted better-than-expected earnings and raised its full-year guidance amid strong growth in its medical-technologies business.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon on Friday said the U.S. economy was basically doing OK, even if customers were spending “a little more slowly.”
But with rivals like Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and American Express Co. set to report quarterly results this week, recession agita still prevails.
For evidence, look no further than JPMorgan’s JPM, +0.60% own quarterly results. The bank’s second-quarter profit blew past expectations, but it set aside $2.9 billion during the second quarter to cover potentially bad loans, amid concerns that more consumers could run into more difficulty paying their bills on time as higher prices manage to stick at stores.
That figure was well up from $1.1 billion in the same quarter last year, although still far below the billions it stowed away when the pandemic first hit. Similarly, Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, -0.34%
on Friday set aside $1.7 billion for loan losses in this year’s second quarter, nearly triple what it was a year ago.
The figures underscore the anxiety over the second half of this year, when many economists expect the economy to tilt into a recession. However, for the 500 companies in the S&P 500 index, Wall Street analysts still expect profit growth.
Any downturn could be exacerbated by the pressure investors have put on companies, potentially via more layoffs and money-saving technology, to keep prices high and cut costs to replicate the abnormally large profit-margin gains they put up in 2021 and 2022. Businesses have indeed kept prices high, at least for many basic necessities, in an effort to cover their own higher costs and to pad profits.
When Bank of America BAC, -1.89%
reports this week, the results will narrow the lens on lending and spending in the U.S. Results from Morgan Stanley MS, -0.50%
and Goldman Sachs GS, -0.76%
will fill in the gaps on trading and deal-making. American Express AXP, -0.49%
will give a more detailed breakdown of what consumers are still spending their money on, after Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL, -2.35%
— which has a partnership with AmEx — said that travel demand remained “robust.”
Banks shoveled more money into their reserve stockpiles in 2020 to bulk up against the pandemic’s shutdown of the economy. A year later, they started releasing those funds as the economy reopened and recovered. FactSet expects the broader banking sector to plump up its cash cushion during this year’s second quarter to account for more late loan payments or potential defaults.
In a report on Friday, FactSet said the 15 banking-industry companies in the S&P 500 Index tracked by the firm were on pace to set aside $9.9 billion to cover losses from souring loans in the second quarter. That’s more than double the amount set aside a year ago. And if that $9.9 billion figure, based on actual and projected financial figures, ends up as the actual figure at the end of the quarter, it would mark the highest since the beginning of the pandemic and the third highest in five years, according to FactSet data.
“The U.S. economy continues to be resilient,” Dimon said in a statement on Friday. “Consumer balance sheets remain healthy, and consumers are spending, albeit a little more slowly. Labor markets have softened somewhat, but job growth remains strong.”
However, he noted difficulties in JPMorgan’s investment banking segment. And he said consumer savings were slowly eroding as inflation endures.
As the nation’s biggest bank, JPMorgan has flexed its financial muscle this year, swallowing up First Republic after that bank got into trouble. But as it consolidates power and influence, building thicker armor against shocks to the economy, its financial results might not always reflect the struggles of its smaller rivals, where difficulties are likely felt more acutely. Analysts at Raymond James said that while JPMorgan remained a “best in breed” bank, its outlook pointed to “heightened challenges for smaller banks.”
For the week ahead, 60 S&P 500 companies, including five from the Dow, will report quarterly results, according to FactSet. Two big oil companies, Halliburton Co. HAL, -2.28%
and Baker Hughes Co., BKR, -0.95%
will report, as oil prices fall from levels seen last year. Results from two transportation giants — trucking company J.B. Hunt Transport Services JBHT, -0.42%
and railroad operator CSX Corp. CSX, -0.27%
— will also be a proxy for how much people are buying things and having them shipped. United Airlines Holdings Inc. UAL, -3.42%
and American Airlines Group AAL, -1.68%
will also report.
The call to put on your calendar
Netflix results: Hollywood shutdown, ‘slow-growth’ expectations. Hollywood’s writers — and now its actors — have gone on strike, and Netflix Inc. NFLX, -1.88%
reports second-quarter results on Wednesday. The streaming platform will likely face questions over how much content it has left in the tank, as the strike upends studio-production schedules and leaves viewers with vast expanses of reruns. Still, Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen said that the production standstill “may ironically drive even more viewers to streaming services.”
The writers and actors argue that the studio industry — increasingly consolidated, increasingly publicly traded, increasingly oriented around a handful of film franchises — has profited immensely while skimping on things benefits and streaming residuals. But after a decade-long rise, and a recent shift in investor focus from subscriber growth to profit growth, Netflix has emerged as one of the biggest production powerhouses in the business. And after years of flooding customers with new films and shows, it’s trying to squeeze out sales via more boring ways: things like a password-sharing crackdown and ads.
Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio at Synovus Trust Co., said Netflix still faced a plenty of streaming competition amid “muted” subscriber growth. But Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said investors should look at Netflix as a profitable, albeit more mature company.
“We think Netflix is well-positioned in this murky environment as streamers are shifting strategy, and should be valued as an immensely profitable, slow-growth company,” Pachter said in a research note on Friday.
“Even while the ad-supported tier is not yet directly accretive (we think it will be accretive over time), the ad-tier should continue to reduce churn and draw new subscribers to the service,” he continued.
The number to watch
Tesla sales. Electric-vehicle maker Tesla Inc. also reports second-quarter results on Wednesday. And like streaming, some analysts say the fervor for EVs has faded.
However, they also said that Tesla TSLA, +1.25%
had so far been immune from the malaise. And even though Elon Musk remains preoccupied with Twitter — which now faces competition from Meta Platforms Inc.’s META, -1.45%
Threads — Tesla’s second-quarter deliveries were far above expectations. Sales are expected to be big. And one analyst said that price cuts, which Tesla has used to capture more of the auto market in China, were likely “fairly minimal” during the second quarter. But some analysts wondered what the blowout delivery figures would mean for margins. And the industry, broadly, has increasingly tested the patience of profit-minded investors.
“We’ve now seen a market where demand is constrained, capital has been tighter, and there is less tolerance for EV related losses,” Barclays analysts said in a note last week, adding that there was a “step back from EV euphoria.”
Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc. surged toward a more-than two-year high Thursday, after the air carrier reported second-quarter profit and revenue that rose above forecast, and boosted its full-year outlook citing continued “robust” travel demand.
Delta DAL, -1.46%
said net income more than doubled to $1.83 billion, or $2.84 a share, from $735 million, or $1.15 a share, in the year-ago period.
Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $2.68 beat the FactSet consensus of $2.40.
Revenue grew 12.7% to $15.78 billion, well above the FactSet consensus of $14.44 billion,
For 2023, the company raised its EPS guidance range to $6 to $7 from $5 to $6, and increased its outlook for free cash flow to $3 billion from $2 billion.
The stock jumped 3.5% in premarket trading, putting it on track to open at the highest price seen during regular-sessions hours since April 2021.
“Consumer demand for air travel remains robust,” said Chief Executive Ed Bastian.
Traffic increased 18.0% to 60.80 billion revenue passenger miles while capacity grew 17.1% to 68.99 billion available seat miles. Load factor improved one percentage point to 88%, to beat the FactSet consensus of 87.2%.
The stock has run up 42.1% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the U.S. Global Jets exchange-traded fund JETS, -0.81%
has climbed 22.1% and the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.74%
has gained 9.3%.
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These Stocks Are Moving the Most Today: Meta, Bank of America, Affirm, AmEx, JetBlue, and More Stock Market Movers
Stock futures were falling Thursday as minutes from the Federal Reserve’s meeting in June revealed that most central bank officials expected interest rates to be raised again this year.
