Locked-down users around the globe turned to application stores - Guess what?

Review

The number of people hospitalized with coronavirus in California has jumped 56% in the last two weeks. However, in the main focus was the US jobs report for June, published one day in advance because of the shortened week on the eve of 4th July Independence Day. Nonfarm payrolls were expected to rise 3 million in June following a 2.5 million gain in May. In reality, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nonfarm employment rose by 4.8 million jobs.

The unemployment rate was projected to drop to 12.4% in June versus May's 13.3%, but the real number was reported much lower at 11.1%.

As a result, Dow Jones industrials rallied 1% midday, while the SP 500 also moved up 1%. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.1%. Blue chips Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) rallied 0.9% and 1.4%, respectively.

Trends

With COVID-19 stats suggesting prolonged home entertainment – as opposed to public entertainment – period, locked-down mobile users around the globe turned to application stores.

Global Google Play downloads spiked 35% year-over-year and 18% sequentially in the second quarter, with corresponding revenue rising 18% and 5%, respectively. Downloads of Apple products saw less dramatic growth, with 23% year-over-year and 2% sequential download increases and 20% and 3% in-app revenue growth.

Pinterest Inc (PINS) downloads surged mind boggling 78% year-over-year, Twitter (TWTR) went up by 64%, Facebook (FB) increased by only 5%, however, Instagram ones soared 33%.

We don’t know how some of these companies are going to monetize the trend, but the trend in this case is definitely their friend!

Company

Meantime Tesla wasn’t able to sustain its 2019 performance level despite highly expected input from its Shanghai factory and Model Y. The automaker’s second-quarter deliveries fell 4.8% year over year to about 90,650 units. However, that number well beaten the Wall Street’s shy expectations of just slightly over 68 thousand units.

Some analysts, however, pointed out that rival automakers’ deliveries fell significantly more dramatically. For example, General Motors unit sales dropped 34%, Toyota Motor lost 35% of its receivables, while Fiat Chrysler shed 39% of its solvent demand — and Tesla’s numbers actually rose quarter-over-quarter despite 21 more days of factory shutdowns.

Tesla shares shot up by over 8% to $1210 as a result. This story very well illustrates superiority of beating estimates over dynamics of a company’s real operational and financial performance.