Tesla cautioned that growth is likely to come in lower in 2024 than it did last year without specifying a target. In 2023, its global vehicle deliveries increased 38% over the prior year; and for several years, Tesla had been aiming for 50% annual growth on average. For the fourth quarter, Tesla’s net income more than doubled to $7.9 billion, largely due to a one-time tax benefit. But the company’s income from operations was down 47% from the prior-year period, and its fourth-quarter revenue came in shy of analysts’ expectations. Adjusted earnings per share of 71 cents for the fourth quarter also missed Wall Street’s estimates. Its operating margin improved slightly quarter-over-quarter to 8.2% for the final three months of the year.

Advertising and media group WPP's share price was being weighed down with a ratings cut by JP Morgan from 'overweight' to 'neutral'. The bank slashed its target price for the stock from 1,170p to just 850p. As part of its 2024 outlook for the listed media sector, JP Morgan said it was maintaining a "defensive bias" amid a slowing macro environment. "The outlook for 2024 is very similar to that 12 months ago. Economies, consumers and earnings were resilient in 2023 and the forecast economic slowdown has been rolled into 2024," the bank said. "We maintain a defensive bias as we start the year as we expect higher inflation and interest rates to finally catch up with consumers and earnings." JP Morgan said it was downgrading WPP due to slowing US macro conditions and share losses. WPP reported in October that group like-for-like revenues were up 1.2% across the first nine months of 2023, as growth in the UK, Western and Continental Europe, and Rest of World divisions was offset a 2.2% LFL slump in North America.

The streaming giant added 13.1 million subscribers in the fourth quarter—its strongest final quarter ever for net additions—after attracting 7.7 million new customers during the same period a year earlier. Revenue increased 12.5% from a year earlier, to $8.8 billion in the final quarter of 2023, beating its expectations. Net profit for the period rose to $938 million, missing the company’s forecast of $956 million. Operating margin rose to 16.9% in the quarter from 7% a year earlier, above the 13.3% it projected.

Wuxi Biologics faces headwinds in the next two years, as the biotech industry makes a slow recovery in a high interest-rate environment, UOB Kay Hian analysts say. The company's shares have tumbled since it cut its 2023 revenue guidance to 10% from 30%. The analysts expect Wuxi Bio to post double-digit revenue and profit growth for 2024 and are more conservative on its 2025 outlook as the industry lacks growth catalysts. The company may also come under significant margin pressure in the next two years due to lower-than-expected new project numbers in 2023 and delays in mega projects, the analysts add. UOB Kay Hian cuts Wuxi Bio's rating to sell from hold and lower its target price to HK$22.00 from HK$47.00 given the much lower guidance.

Revenue at the Taiwanese company fell 2% year on year in dollar terms last quarter, while net profit dropped 19%. That brought about a rare 9% decline in TSMC’s full-year revenue. Chip consumers like smartphone and computer makers have been slowly digesting inventories built up at the tail end of the pandemic-era electronics boom. TSMC expects revenue in 2024 to grow more than 20% from last year. The smartphone market has finally started to expand again: Global shipments in the fourth quarter of 2023 grew 8.5% year on year, according to International Data Corporation—compared with a 3.2% decline for the whole of 2023.

General Motors' plans to return billions to shareholders seem to have changed little about the company's overall financial picture, per the three major credit rating agencies. Fitch maintains its rating, as it expects GM to keep its automotive cash near or above the previous $18 billion target, with enough flexibility in the case of a downturn. Moody's says the move is credit-negative, but the agency does not believe it signals a shift in overall financial policy, and therefore GM's ratings and outlook are "unaffected." S&P Global says the company will have enough positive cash flow to handle investments in electrification and other technology, "therefore, all of our ratings on GM are unchanged," S&P says GM expects to generate operating profit of $11.7 billion to $12.7 billion this year, which is slightly lower than its previous forecast. GM also expects to generate free cash flow of $10.5 billion to $11.5 billion this year, higher than a previous forecast.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded easyJet on Thursday to 'buy' from 'underperform' and lifted the price target to 640p from 470p on European capacity constraints. The bank said it sees growth benefiting from capacity constraints in Europe, a bigger contribution from the holidays segment and stable ex-fuel unit costs. BofA lifted its FY24 pre-tax profit estimate by 14% to £549m, which is 3% below consensus, as it models 1 percentage point higher year-on-year load factors in FY24E and for cost per seat to remain flat. The price target change comes as the bank moves its valuation to a target price-to-earnings multiple of 11x, applied to its higher earnings estimates. "We move back to a PE methodology as easyJet's earnings and leverage have improved after the pandemic," it said. "At 9x FY24E P/E, the shares trade below their 12x historical average, which we think is unjustified, given solid earnings growth prospects and a strong balance sheet."

UBS upgraded its stance on miners Anglo American and Antofagasta to 'buy' from 'neutral'. On Anglo, it said the risk/reward was attractive after underperformance. It noted the shares are down 40% from the high in January, underperforming Rio Tinto and BHP by around 28% due to weakness in platinum group metals and diamonds, concerns about Woodsmith and ongoing operational challenges. "We believe the risk/reward is now attractive, with Anglo to benefit from improving copper prices in 2024/25, resilient iron ore and met-coal prices as well as recovering PGM and rough diamond prices," it said. In 2024, UBS expects the operational performance to gradually improve, and for more than $1bn of working capital to be released. UBS said it also believes the market now ascribes no value to the Woodsmith project. "Anglo has strong ESG credentials, high quality assets and a strong balance sheet," the bank said. On Antofagasta, UBS said the bottom-up investment case was at an inflection. It said Anto has had a challenging two to three years that resulted in guidance downgrades, declining output, significant increases in unit costs and capex for key projects at Los Pelambres lifting materially eroded returns. "Looking forward, in our view, Anto's bottom-up investment case is attractive," it said. "We expect a combination of organic volume growth and unit cost improvement to drive superior earnings growth versus mining peers (diversified and copper pure plays apart from Ivanhoe) in the next three to five years and believe earnings growth (rather than the re-rating/large dividends) will drive attractive returns." On top of this, UBS said reckons the copper market is also close to a fundamental inflection point and that Anto is one of the few "lower risk" large cap global copper miners that offers leverage to copper price upside.

Matt O'Connor admits that he's late to the party in upgrading JPMorgan, he sees the stock benefiting from an upside to net interest income guidance while its peers face downside risk. He expects management will increase its expectation for a reasonable medium-term net interest income run rate from $80B to potentially $84B. In addition, he points to the bank's leverage to a capital markets recovery and its strong capital and loan loss reserve levels. "And while we wouldn't argue JPM shares are cheap, they also aren't expensive at 11.5x our 2024e or just a slight premium to the broader group multiple of 11.0x," O'Connor wrote in a note to clients.

Broadcom revenue from its semiconductor segment grew only 3% year over year to $7.3 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter. Chip companies on the PHLX index averaged gross margins of 49% for the trailing 12-month period, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The quarter’s results were solid and closely in line with our expectations. Sales of $9.3 billion rose 4% year over year and 5% sequentially, with growth in both semiconductors and software. Broadcom’s networking chips continue to see impressive demand, largely driven by AI, and it saw typical seasonal strength for its wireless chips that sell into Apple’s products like the iPhone. Broadcom’s other chip markets of broadband and storage are softening, and we expect this to continue through fiscal 2024. Non-GAAP gross and operating margins of 74% and 62%, respectively, were within typical ranges for the firm and remain extremely impressive.