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Why Is St. Joe Company (JOE) Up 5.3% Since the Last Earnings Report?

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It has been about a month since the last earnings report for St. Joe Company (JOE - Free Report) . Shares have added about 5.3% in that time frame, outperforming the market.

Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to the stock's next earnings release, or is it 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 drivers.

St. Joe Q2 Earnings and Revenues Grow Year over Year

St. Joe reported second-quarter 2017 net income per share of 15 cents, well ahead of the prior-year quarter figure of 2 cents. Revenues grew roughly 3% year over year.

Total revenue for the quarter came in at $30.4 million compared with $29.5 million recorded in the year-ago period. This increase was driven by higher leasing revenue, timber revenue and real estate revenue. However, the quarter witnessed a slight decline in the resorts and leisure business revenues.

Nevertheless, the company’s total expenses for the quarter declined 5.8% from the prior-year quarter to $25.8 million.

Behind the Headline Numbers

In the reported quarter, real estate revenue came in at $7.2 million, up from $6.7 million recorded in the comparable period last year. Timber revenue remained flat sequentially at $1.2 million and increased from $0.7 million in the prior-year quarter.  

Leasing revenues increased year over year to $2.7 million from $2.3 million. St. Joe’s leasing segment includes around 671,000 of net rentable square feet, which was 84% leased as of Jun 30, 2017. However, resorts and leisure revenues were $19.3 million in the reported quarter, down from $19.8 million posted in the year-ago period.

In addition, investment income from available for sale securities for the quarter came in at $12.1 million in the second quarter, up from $0.8 million recorded in the year-earlier period. This is attributed to higher interest and dividend income due to changes in the company's investment portfolio and sale of investments at a realized gain of $7.7 million.

Liquidity Increases

Finally, St. Joe exited second-quarter 2017 with cash, cash equivalents and investments of $414.9 million, up from $392.6 million as of Mar 31, 2016.

How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

It turns out, fresh estimate have trended upward during the past month. There has been one revision higher for the current quarter. In the past month, the consensus estimate has shifted up by 33.3% due to these changes.

St. Joe Company (The) Price and Consensus

 

St. Joe Company (The) Price and Consensus | St. Joe Company (The) Quote

VGM Scores

At this time, the stock has a nice Growth Score of B, however its Momentum is doing a bit better with an A. However, the stock was allocated a grade of F on the value side, putting it in the fifth quintile for this investment strategy.

Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of D. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.

Our style scores indicate that the stock is more suitable for momentum investors than growth investors.

Outlook

Estimates have been trending upward for the stock. The magnitude of these revisions also looks promising. It comes with little surprise that the stock has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). We are expecting an above average return from the stock in the next few months.


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