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Why Is St. Joe (JOE) Up 7.6% Since Last Earnings Report?

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It has been about a month since the last earnings report for St. Joe (JOE - Free Report) . Shares have added about 7.6% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500.

Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is St. Joe due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.

St. Joe Posts Loss in Q4, Witnesses Fall in Revenues

St. Joe reported a fourth-quarter 2018 net loss of $0.1 million or $0.00 per share compared with net income of $38.5 million, or 58 cents per share in the comparable period last year.

The reported quarter’s results include around $1.4 million in net expenses associated with Hurricane Michael that affected the area on Oct 10, 2018. Also the fourth-quarter 2018 results include around $3.7 million unrealized loss on the company’s preferred investments due to market volatility in December 2018.

Meanwhile, the year-ago quarter results included a net gain of $9.8 million resulting from the sale of its short-term vacation rental management business. Also, results included a one-time credit of $33.5 million to re-measure the company’s net deferred tax liability.

Total revenues for the quarter came in at $16.3 million, down 25.2% from $21.8 million recorded a year ago. Results reflect decline in revenues in real estate, hospitality, leasing and timber segments. However, the company’s total expenses for the quarter declined 24.8% from the prior-year quarter to $17.6 million.

Behind the Headline Numbers

In the fourth quarter, real-estate revenues came in at $6.1 million, down from the prior year’s $8.3 million, while Hospitality revenues fell to $6.7 million, down from $8.6 million in the year-ago period.

Leasing revenues came in at $3.2 million, slightly down from $3.5 million in the prior-year quarter, while timber revenues of $0.3 million declined from $1.4 million reported in the year-ago quarter.

Notably, as of Dec 31, 2018, the company owned a portfolio of approximately 812,630 square feet of rentable commercial space which was 93% leased. This compared to ownership of 813,602 square feet of rentable commercial space by the company which was 87% leased as of Dec 31, 2017. Moreover, in 2018, a total of 202 home sites were sold as compared with 174 in 2017.

Liquidity

St. Joe exited 2018 with cash, cash equivalents and investments of $240.3 million as of Dec 31, 2018, as compared to $303.4 million as of Dec 31, 2017.

Additionally, during 2018, the repurchased 5,238,566 shares of its common stock for $93.4 million, denoting approximately 8% of the company’s outstanding common stock. Following the quarter end, the company bought back an additional 471,500 shares of its common stock for $7.1 million. St. Joe has around $35.8 million in remaining repurchase authorization under its stock-repurchase program.

How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

Analysts were quiet during the last two month period as none of them issued any earnings estimate revisions.


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