Fincredible MacroTalk July 28: Concerns About Delta Variant Growing
Comments on the COVID-19 Delta variant from executives of V, MMM, AXP, LUV, ALK, RYA, CE, SNA, SLB, MMLP, CNC, MASI, HSTM, RF.
Concerns about the COVID-19 Delta variant have been growing over the past few weeks, with cases in the US rising once more. The variant appears to be more transmisible and result in higher hospitalization rates among non-vaccinated individuals. However, with 69% of U.S. adults being vaccinated with at least one dose, results of this new wave should be less damaging to the population.
Given the uncertainty this new variant has created, many investors and company executives have been wary of the effects this might have on the economy and the stock market. In this post, we’ve highlighted some quotes from company earnings calls regarding the Delta variant. Quotes are sourced from Fincredible.
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Healthcare
“The environment has changed again in just the last week or so, and the Delta variant is causing a new wave of pandemic. It's a pandemic of the unvaccinated. According to a leading epidemiologist our team has been working with for the past 18-plus months, the Delta variant has 1,260 times greater concentration in respiratory material than the original variant. An individual infected with the Delta strain can spread the virus to an average of 5 to 8 individuals, up from an average of 2.4 individuals from the original strain. 83% of the COVID cases today in the U.S. are Delta, up from 10% just a month ago. Hospitalizations are up 57% in the last month. The deaths have increased by 19% in the last week alone. And importantly, 97% of people currently hospitalized for COVID-19 are unvaccinated, and 99.5% of the COVID-related deaths are among the unvaccinated. Our additional concern because of the high concentration in respiratory droplets, this variance seems to be transmissible or transmissible among children and is more dangerous than the original virus. It is clear that one of the issues we must address is vaccine hesitancy to stop the transmission of the virus and to protect those who cannot safely receive the inoculations, including our young children. The variant is real, and we are taking it very seriously.”
Michael Frederic Neidorff, CEO
Centene Corp Q2 2021 Earnings Call
“So what we're seeing so far with the Delta variant, it isn't hospitalizing vaccinated people. And in most of the markets, we are addressing, majority of people have been vaccinated. So while the Delta is increasing, you've seen, for example, the case in Iceland, it's not hospitalizing those people. It's not killing those people. So based on what we're seeing today, we don't think that hospitals will get full of COVID patients and they'll have to cancel their elective surgery. So we are anticipating that things are going to continue recovering.”
Masimo Corp Q2 2021 Earnings Call
“And I want to remind everybody that as the nation moves forward through the pandemic, it's clear that this long journey has grown bumpier in the recent rise of the Delta variant, which is causing a 36% increase in the number of hospitalizations.According to the CDC, nearly half of adults in the U.S. have been fully vaccinated. And as that number rises, we at HealthStream remain hopeful that progress towards beating the pandemic will continue.”
HealthStream Q2 2021 Earnings Call
Financials
“Everything we're seeing so far, if you adjust for unique things that's happened in 2019 is a trend that either stable or slightly better in the U.S. and around the world, either stable or slightly better with no evidence right now anywhere of delta impact in the spending. And an important correlation there is mobility. Mobility is highly correlated with spending, we find. And mobility indexes in general, are either stable or climbing still even as infections are climbing in many parts of the world. And even where infections have gone up a lot, mobility doesn't seem to be impacted yet. No evidence of it, nor are we seeing any impact on spending.”
Vasant M. Prabhu, CEO
Visa Inc. Q3 2021 Earnings Call
“I think you've got a situation in Europe. Look at Japan with the Olympics, right? I mean everybody is expecting spectators to be, that there's no spectators there. You've got Australia, which is still closed. You've got the U.K., which is battling the Delta variant. And so I don't know what's going to happen with international. Having said that, our billings continue to improve in international. People, much like they were in the U.S., are looking for ways to travel, whether that be car trips, whether that be more restaurant and so forth. And so I don't really expect international to come back this year and hopefully, at some point next year. But that's really all going to be driven by vaccination and the efficacy of vaccinations. And remember, the vaccines that are available in different -- in other countries are not the same vaccines that are available in the United States. And there's different efficacy on all different types of vaccines, whether that's AstraZeneca, which has like a 67% efficacy; or it's a Moderna or a Pfizer, which is up at 88%. And so what you're seeing in the U.K. now is vaccinating -- vaccinated people actually get COVID, not being hospitalized or dying, but still getting COVID. So I don't think we're going to see international come back this year.”
American Express Q2 2021 Earnings Call
“And we really have seen the benefits of that with increasing activity -- economic activity in our markets. We also are operating in markets that are some of the least vaccinated. And so we have been at risk of some recurrence of COVID. The Delta variant is having some impact on the population, but we've not seen it necessarily impact the economy yet. Loan growth has been broad-based. We're seeing increasing activity across virtually all of our markets. Growth has been across multiple segments, whether it be small business, middle market, large corporate.”
Regions Financial Q2 2021 Earnings Call
Travel
“Transactionally, we're just looking at bookings straight up. Are the bookings coming in or not? So that's kind of real time, but prospectively, we're looking back and trying to understand what is the customer sentiment and our customers are beginning to be less willing to travel or not because of Delta variant. And to be honest with you, we have not seen that. Very, very modestly, but almost statistically insignificant, to be honest with you. So we're looking at the customer sentiment, but we're also certainly looking at current bookings as well as forward bookings and the trends are the trends, and they're still solid trends. So we really have not seen it. If we did, we'd share that with you, but we are just not seeing at this point any issue or any impact from the Delta variant.”
Southwest Airlines Q2 2021 Earnings Call
“This progress and our second quarter results give us confidence that the worst of the downturn is behind us, but the impact of the Delta variant may pose some risk in the recovery trajectory. To date, we are seeing no signs of demand slowing, but we will continue to watch booking trends carefully so that we can appropriately match capacity with demand. With that in mind, our plan is to return to 100% of 2019 flying levels by no later than the summer of 2022. However, given that the recent surge in demand has been consistently strong and has not shown signs of slowing, we may accelerate our return to pre-COVID levels accordingly.”
Alaska Air Group Q2 2021 Earnings Call
“However, COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on our business. Most of our Easter flights were canceled, and there was a slower-than-expected easing of EU government travel restrictions into May and June.”
Michael O'Leary, CEO
Q1 2022 Ryanair Holdings PLC Earnings Pre-Recorded Presentation
Basic Materials and Industrials
“Interesting enough, I mean, while we're worried about the Delta variant, we haven't seen it have much impact yet, although that is a concern. As I said, we see some signs that there may be some impact on Southeast Asia. But I would say, in general, the globe is pretty consistent right now in terms of recovery.”
Celanese Corp Q2 2021 Earnings Call
“You got a lot of people talking about the delta variants and all this stuff. I don't think so. I think the people of work, the people in the factories and the people in the garages, like I've said on other calls, are kind of thinking they've weathered the storm and they're not going to get shocked again no matter what. And so I think they've kind of changed their level, they're starting to recover. And so you're starting to see people -- we saw it in our tool storage numbers, one of the reasons why we took the franchisees, the franchise council to Algona, our Tool Storage plant is everybody's screaming for more tool storage. Now one of the effects was that when we entered the COVID, they sold down. They used boxes that they had taken in trade, and so they had a lot of that rolling out. But still, they're looking for boxes now. So I think things have turned.”
Q2 2021 Snap-On Inc Earnings Call
“From a macro perspective, the global economy continues to improve, though uncertainty remains due to COVID-19 and heightened concern over the increase in Delta variant cases. We saw ongoing strength in many end markets, including home improvement, oral care and general industrial, along with a pickup in health care electric procedures.”
3M Co Q2 2021 Earnings Call
Energy
“While the rise of the COVID-19 Delta variant and resurgence of related disruptions could impact the pace of economic reopening, recent market projections continue to affirm an improving global economic outlook. Global GDP growth is now expected to approach 6% in 2021 and more than 4% in 2022, which should continue to drive a progressive recovery of oil demand. This outlook is supported by recent oil demand updates, which reflect the anticipation of wider vaccine-enabled recovery, improved mobility and additional fiscal stimulus in large economies through the second half of the year.”
Schlumberger Q2 2021 Earnings Call
“Before concluding, I want to take a moment to discuss the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including the Delta variant. While acknowledging that the Delta variant is spreading, we believe that consumer and industrial demand will continue to recover and, while politics is certainly a factor, see no real risk to a countrywide shutdown like we experienced last year. The evidence is overwhelming that those who are vaccinated are highly protected. And if they are diagnosed positive, the severity of their illness and the risk of death is greatly lessened.While the unvaccinated face an elevated risk, they are a smaller percentage of the U.S. population. So cases for the unvaccinated may continue to rise, but overall, hospitalizations and mortalities should not. So in our view, the economic recovery will continue: folks returning to their offices, increased business and leisure travel and return to what we regard as normal.”
Robert D. Bondurant, CEO
Q2 2021 Martin Midstream Partners LP Earnings Call
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