One of the most anticipated earnings calls of the week is here. Mark Zuckerberg’s, Meta Platforms Inc. (NYSE:META), announced the latest results from Q4 2023 after the market closed on Thursday. The company did not disappoint investors and topped both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) estimates, sending the stock higher.

Meta achieved revenue of $40.111 billion for the last quarter of 2023 vs. $39.124 billion expected. Revenue was up by 25% year-over-year. EPS reached $5.33 per share vs. $4.822 per share estimate, rising by 205% from the same period last year.

The tech giant also announced its first ever dividend of $0.50 per share. The dividend will be paid to shareholders as of close of business on 22/2/2024 and will be paid on 26/3/2024. Meta plans to distribute a dividend every quarter ''subject to market conditions and approval by our board of directors.'' Company overview Founded: 2004 Headquarters: 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, United States Number of employees: 66,185 (2023) Industry: Social media, Social network advertising, Consumer electronics, Virtual reality Key people: Mark Zuckerberg (Chairman and CEO), Javier Olivan (COO), Susan Li (CFO), Andrew Bosworth (CTO), Chris Cox (CPO) CEO commentary Mark Zuckerberg was short and sweet in a statement to investors: "We had a good quarter as our community and business continue to grow." "We've made a lot of progress on our vision for advancing AI and the metaverse," highlighted company’s work on AI.

Stock reaction The stock was up by 1.19% at the end of Thursday at $394.78 per share. Shares rose by over 14% in the after-hours trading after Meta’s results exceeded expectations. One to watch at the open Friday.

Stock performance 5 day: +0.41% 1 month: +13.73% 3 months: +26.99% Year-to-date: +11.53% 1 year: +109.13% Meta Platforms stock price targets KeyCorp: $465 Jefferies Financial Group: $455 Raymond James: $450 Citigroup: $440 Royal Bank of Canada: $400 JMP Securities: $410 Wells Fargo & Company: $438 Piper Sandler: $415 Mizuho: $470 BMO Capital Markets: $397 Wedbush: $420 Tigress Financial: $435 Stifel Nicolaus: $405 Barclays: $400 Meta Platforms Inc. is the 7th largest company in the world with a market cap of $1.014 trillion, according to CompaniesMarketCap. You can trade Meta Platforms Inc. (NYSE:META) and many other stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX and ASX with GO Markets as a Share CFD on the MetaTrader 5 platform. To find out more, go to ''Trading'' then select ''Share CFDs''.

GO Markets offers pre-market and after-market trading on popular US Share CFDs. Why trade during extended hours? Volatility never sleeps.

Trade over earnings releases as they happen outside of main trading hours Reduce your risk and hedge your existing positions ahead of a new trading day Extended trading hours on popular US stocks means extended opportunities Sources: Meta Platforms Inc., TradingView, MarketWatch, MarketBeat, CompaniesMarketCap

The US earnings season continues. To kick things off this week, McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD), released Q4 2023 and full year results before the opening bell on Monday. World’s largest restaurant chain reported revenue that fell short of Wall Street expectations for the first time since Q2 2022 at $6.406 billion vs. $6.448 billion expected.

Revenue was up by 8% vs. Q4 2022. Earnings per share (EPS) reached $2.95 vs. analyst estimate of $2.827 per share.

EPS was also up by 8% year-over-year. Full year revenue reached $25.493 billion, up from $23.182 billion in 2022. EPS grew by 39% year-over-year to $11.56 per share.

Company overview Founded: 1940 Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, United States Number of employees: 150,000 (2022) Industry: Fast food restaurants, real estate Key people: Enrique Hernandez Jr. (chairman), Chris Kempczinski (president & CEO) CEO commentary "Our global comparable sales growth of 9% for the year is a testament to the tremendous dedication of the entire McDonald’s System," CEO of McDonald's, Chris Kempczinski said in a press release. "Strong execution of our Accelerating the Arches strategy has driven over 30% comparable sales growth since 2019 as our talented crew members, and the industry’s best franchisees and suppliers have demonstrated proven agility with a relentless focus on the customer. By evolving the way we work across the System, we remain confident in the resilience of our business amid macro challenges that will persist in 2024," Kempczinski added. Stock reaction The stock was down by 3.73% at the end of trading on Monday, trading at $285.97 a share, falling to its lowest level since 8/12/23.

Stock performance 5 day: -2.17% 1 month: -2.03% 3 months: +6.34% Year-to-date: -3.55% 1 year: +6.74% McDonald’s stock price targets Bank of America: $341 Stifel Nicolaus: $322 HSBC: $317 Truist Financial: $340 Piper Sandler: $299 TD Cowen: $325 BMO Capital Markets: $335 Royal Bank of Canada: $315 Citigroup: $310 DZ Bank: $300 Wedbush: $310 Stephens: $300 JP Morgan Chase & Co.: $278 McDonald’s Corporation is the 51st largest company in the world with a market cap of $207.42 billion, according to CompaniesMarketCap. You can trade McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) and many other stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX and ASX with GO Markets as a Share CFD on the MetaTrader 5 platform. To find out more, go to "Trading" then select "Share CFDs".

GO Markets offers pre-market and after-market trading on popular US Share CFDs. Why trade during extended hours? Volatility never sleeps.

Trade over earnings releases as they happen outside of main trading hours Reduce your risk and hedge your existing positions ahead of a new trading day Extended trading hours on popular US stocks means extended opportunities Sources: McDonald’s Corporation, TradingView, MarketWatch, MarketBeat, CompaniesMarketCap

US technology giant, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), reported Q4 2023 financial results on Thursday. World’s largest semiconductor company by revenue reported revenue and earnings per share (EPS) that beat analyst estimates. Revenue reached $15.406 billion vs. $15.159 billion expected.

Revenue grew by 10% year-over-year. EPS reported at $0.54 vs. $0.447 per share estimate. EPS was up by 260% vs.

Q4 2022. Intel expects revenue of between $12.2 to $13.2 billion for Q1, below analyst estimate of $14.15 billion. EPS expected to be $0.13 vs. $0.33 per share expected.

Company overview Founded: 1968 Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, United States Number of employees: 131,900 (2022) Industry: Semiconductors, Computer hardware, Autonomous cars, Automation, Artificial intelligence Key people: Frank D. Yeary (chairman), Pat Gelsinger (CEO) CEO commentary ''We delivered strong Q4 results, surpassing expectations for the fourth consecutive quarter with revenue at the higher end of our guidance,'' CEO of Intel, Pat Gelsinger, said in a statement to investors. ''The quarter capped a year of tremendous progress on Intel's transformation, where we consistently drove execution and accelerated innovation, resulting in strong customer momentum for our products. In 2024, we remain relentlessly focused on achieving process and product leadership, continuing to build our external foundry business and at-scale global manufacturing, and executing our mission to bring AI everywhere as we drive long-term value for stakeholders,'' Gelsinger added.

Stock reaction The stock was up by 0.94% on Thursday, trading at $49.55 a share. Despite beating expectations for Q4 2023, the stock fell by around 8% in after-hours trading as future outlook came in below estimates. Stock performance 5 day: +6.01% 1 month: -1.67% 3 months: +52.37% Year-to-date: -1.39% 1 year: +64.67% Intel stock price targets Rosenblatt: $17 Cantor Fitzgerald: $50 Raymond James: $54 TD Cowen: $45 Susquehanna: $42 Barclays: $44 Stifel Nicolaus: $45 Deutsche Bank: $42 Bank of America: $50 Benchmark: $52 Mizuho: $50 Needham & Company LLC: $40 HSBC: $33 Morgan Stanley: $39 Intel Corporation is the 52nd largest company in the world with a market cap of $208.90 billion.

You can trade Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and many other stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX and ASX with GO Markets as a Share CFD on the MetaTrader 5 platform. To find out more, go to ''Trading'' then select ''Share CFDs''. GO Markets offers pre-market and after-market trading on popular US Share CFDs.

Why trade during extended hours? Volatility never sleeps. Trade over earnings releases as they happen outside of main trading hours Reduce your risk and hedge your existing positions ahead of a new trading day Extended trading hours on popular US stocks means extended opportunities Sources: Intel Corporation, TradingView, MarketWatch, MarketBeat, CompaniesMarketCap, Gartner, CNBC, LSEG

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) released the latest financial results for Q4 of last year after the market closed on Tuesday. World’s 11th largest automaker did not disappoint investors and topped both revenue and earnings per share estimates (EPS). The company achieved revenue of $46 billion in the last 3 months of 2023 vs. $43.062 billion expected, up by 4.5% year-over-year.

EPS was reported at $0.29, beating Wall Street estimate by 140.22% at $0.121 per share. Company overview Founded: 1903 Headquarters: Ford World Headquarters, Dearborn, Michigan, United States Number of employees: 173,000 (2022) Industry: Automotive Key people: William Clay Ford Jr. (Executive Chairman), Jim Farley (President & CEO) CEO commentary ''We’re the only company that gives customers such a wide range of choices – gas, hybrid and electric vehicles – made possible by our Ford+ plan and the talented team that’s carrying it out,'' Jim Farley, CEO of Ford highlighted what separates the company from the competition. ''Ford is creating a product, software and services powerhouse with huge potential for this year and the long haul,'' Farley concluded his statement to investors. Stock reaction Shares were up by 4.14% at market close on Tuesday, trading at $12.07.

The stock rose in the after-hours by around 6% as investors digested the results. Stock performance 5 day: +2.46% 1 month: +1.94% 3 months: +18.68% Year-to-date: -0.98% 1 year: -10.26% Ford stock price targets UBS Group: $12 BNP Paribas: $12 HSBC: $11.30 Barclays: $14 Morgan Stanley: $15 Royal Bank of Canada: $12 Daiwa Capital Markets: $13 Jefferies Financial Group: $15 JP Morgan Chase & Co.: $16 The Goldman Sachs Group: 14 Citigroup: $17 Wells Fargo & Company: $11 Benchmark: $20 Ford Motor Company is the 367th largest company in the world with a market cap of $48.31 billion, according to CompaniesMarketCap. You can trade Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and many other stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX and ASX with GO Markets as a Share CFD on the MetaTrader 5 platform.

To find out more, go to "Trading" then select "Share CFDs". GO Markets offers pre-market and after-market trading on popular US Share CFDs. Why trade during extended hours?

Volatility never sleeps. Trade over earnings releases as they happen outside of main trading hours Reduce your risk and hedge your existing positions ahead of a new trading day Extended trading hours on popular US stocks means extended opportunities Sources: Ford Motor Company, TradingView, MarketWatch, MarketBeat, CompaniesMarketCap

USD tracked higher with yields in Tuesday’s session with the Dollar Index (DXY) hitting a high of 103.820, setting a new YTD high and breaking through the key technical levels of the 200-day SMA as well as a 50% Fib resistance level. DXY saw initial weakness in the European morning which emanated from APAC hours amid a firmer post-BoJ Yen but reversed course in the US session as UST yields climbed and earnings disappointments saw US equites struggle. JPY closed the session seeing marginal losses against the USD.

USDJPY did drop to a low of 146.97 after BoJ Governor Ueda delivered a hawkish-leaning press conference after the BoJ policy decision where he said he will certainly foresee further rate hikes when exiting negative interest rate policy. JPY gains failed to hold though with the pair retaking the 148 handle coming into the APAC open. AUD, NZD and CAD were the G10 outperformers, with all making gains against the USD.

NZD and AUD were bolstered by overnight Yuan gains and resilience in commodity prices. CAD was bid ahead of todays Bank of Canada policy meeting where the central bank is expected to hold rates steady, and possibly pushback against rate cut predictions after a hotter than expected December inflation reading.

USD was flat on Tuesday with the US dollar index (DXY) trading either side of the 200-day SMA and 50% Fib level at 103.50. FX traders turning their attention to the pivotal FOMC rate decision on Wednesday followed by the non-farm employment report on Friday. A better than expected JOLTS job opening report lending some support early in the session to the USD.

EURUSD rebounded from lows of 1.0796 after Spanish CPI printed hotter than expected and no misses on various EZ GDP figures. EUR traders attention will now turn to the German and French CPI figures due today after the hot Spanish print. USDJPY was flat for the session, still holding below the psychological 148 level ahead of the rest of the weeks risk events.

The gap between US and JP 10-year yields and price growing which should put some downward pressure on this pair. AUD underperformed on disappointing retail sales figures ahead of today’s CPI print. AUDUSD did find support at its 200-day moving average at 0.6575 where it has revolved around for the last few sessions.

Look for this level to establish strong support should we get a hot Aussie CPI today.