Google Sees Advertising Perk Up

Alphabet reported a 15% year-on-year rise in revenues at constant currency for the third quarter to 46.2 billion US dollars, after reporting flat revenues form the second quarter. Google search and other advertising revenues were 26.3 billion dollars in the quarter, up 6% year-over-year as advertiser spend began to pick up in August. YouTube advertising revenues were 5 billion dollars, up 32% year-on-year, "driven by ongoing substantial growth in direct response, followed by a rebound in brand advertising."

Google Cloud revenues were 3.4 billion dollars for the third quarter, up 45% year-over-year, while "other revenues" were 5.5 billion dollars, up 35% year-over-year, primarily driven by growth in Play and YouTube non-advertising revenues. In its Other Bets division, which includes the self-driving vehicle developer Waymo, revenues in the third quarter were 178 million dollars, while the operating loss was 1.1 billion dollars. Source: Alphabet collateral

Telefónica Takes Another COVID Hit

Dragged down by the pandemic, Telefónica reported a 4.5% year-on-year fall  in revenues to 10.46 billion euros for the third quarter of 2020 on an organic basis.  That compares with a 5.6% decline in the second quarter of 2020.

The Madrid-based group estimated that COVID-19 had a negative impact on group revenue of 591 million euros in the third quarter compared with 729 million euros in the second quarter, as handset sales picked up. It said its operations in Spanish-speaking Latin America accounted for 31% of the total impact, followed by Spain with 26%, the UK at 20% and Brazil at 15%. Germany accounted for just 5%. Source: Telefónica statement.

Chinese 5G Demand Lifts Ericsson

Ericsson reported a 7% year-on-year increase in revenues for the third quarter of 2020 on a like-for-like basis to 57.5 billion Swedish krona (6.6 billion U.S. dollars). The rise was mainly driven by sales of 5G network equipment in mainland China, Ericsson said.  Overall network revenues rose 13% on a like-for-like basis.

The results reflect "high activity levels in North East Asia and North America," said Börje Ekholm, CEO of Ericsson. "Underlying business fundamentals remain strong in North America driven by consolidation in the U.S. operator market, pending spectrum auctions, and increased demand for 5G. The 5G contracts in mainland China have developed according to plan, contributing positively to profits in Q3 and are expected to improve further. Our business in Europe grew based on several footprint gains. While the pandemic has hurt revenues for several of our customers, and in some cases this has led to a reduction of capex, we have not seen any negative impact on our business, largely due to footprint gains. However, the pandemic negatively impacted our sales in Latin America and Africa." source: Ericsson statement

Tesla Sees Another Strong Quarter

 

Tesla reported a 39% year-on-year increase in revenue for the third quarter, thanks to "substantial growth in vehicle deliveries". Providing an update on its self-driving systems, it said: "Our Autopilot team has been focused on a fundamental architectural rewrite of our neural networks and control algorithms. This rewrite will allow the remaining driving features to be released. In October, we sent the first FSD [full-self-driving] software update enabled by the rewrite to a limited number of Early Access Program users City Streets." As it collects data over time, the system will become more robust, Tesla added.  

"It's also important to emphasise that this is a generalised neural net-based approach," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on the conference call. "There is no need for high-definition maps or a cellphone connection. So the car — the system is designed such that even if you have no connectivity whatsoever and you're in a place that you have never been to before and no Tesla has ever been there, the car should still be able to drive, just like a person. That is the system that we are developing and aiming to release this year."

source: Tesla presentation

Netflix Closes in on 200 Million Members

Netflix forecast that its revenues will rise 20% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 6.57 billion U.S. dollars, following a rise of almost 23% in the third quarter. The rate of growth is markedly slower than a year earlier - revenues rose by over 30% in the second half of 2019.  Still, by the end of 2020, Netflix expects to be serving more than 200 million paying members. Source: Netflix statement