Earnings are still coming in thick and fast after a busy few days last week. Here are some companies you might want to keep an eye on this week before the last ring of the bell on Friday.
Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON)
Workout equipment brand Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ: PTON) is expected to unveil its latest quarterly results after the close of trading on Tuesday.
The company started the pandemic well amid a rush in demand for at-home exercise equipment. However, it struggled to maintain consumers’ interest and has been hit with issues such as product recalls and supply chain difficulties. As such, the stock has sunk by almost 80% over the last 12 months.
However, rumours of a takeover bid sent it soaring on Friday and the stock continues to climb on Monday. Reports suggest the company is open to takeover opportunities, with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) having been linked to a possible future acquisition.
However, a takeover by no means guaranteed and the speculation is already on course to overshadow the company’s earnings. A loss of more than $400m is expected, compared to a $63.6m profit in the same period last year, despite anticipated revenue growth of almost $80m.
A possible acquisition makes the stock an exciting proposition, but it’s important to remember that the company’s earnings are likely to show it is in a poor financial position.
Twitter (NYSE: TWTR)
It has been a mixed season for tech giants, with the FAANG companies almost split down the middle in terms of beating or missing expectations. Twitter is arriving slightly late to the party and one key aspect of its update will be in heavy focus.
Increasing user growth was highlighted as a key goal by new CEO Parag Agrawal, who is overseeing his first earnings report. However, it is worth noting that social media stocks took a hammering on Thursday last week as Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: FB) revealed that the company had seen its first ever dip in users. Success from Twitter in the face of this would be a great achievement.
Meta’s results also indicated that the company had struggled more than had been expected with Apple’s updated advertising policy, a hurdle Twitter has also had to negotiate.
However, with Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) and Snap (NYSE: SNAP) rebounding on the back of strong earnings on Friday, it looks like other social media outfits can escape these problems. We’ll have to wait until Thursday morning to find out how Twitter has fared.
Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM)
San Francisco-based fintech outfit Affirm is generating a buzz as the week kicks off, with the company looking well-placed to beat previous forecasts.
In August 2021 the company partnered with Amazon to deliver a buy-now-pay-later option for the online retailer’s customers. A strong showing in Amazon’s most recent earnings, which were released just last week, indicates Affirm is likely to have enjoyed a strong quarter.
Additionally, the firm is expected to have benefited from a rise in consumer spending in December.
Estimates from Zacks have the company pegged as achieving revenue growth of more than 60% compared to the same three-month period last year, while Koyfin shows the majority of analysts have the stock listed as a ‘Buy’.
Look out for this one after the close of trading on Thursday.
Sonos (NASDAQ: SONO)
Headphone and soundbar specialist Sonos is facing some heavy expectations this week after Morgan Stanley reiterated its ‘Overweight’ rating on Thursday.
However, earnings per share are expected to decline by more than 20% as the company deals with the same supply chain issues and part shortages that have been hitting businesses over the last year.
These difficulties led to Sonos upping the price of most of its products back in autumn 2021. This update could shed some light over how successful boosting prices has been as a strategy.
Morgan Stanley analyst, Erik Woodring, claims a 15-20% drop in full year earnings is already priced in by investors, so anything better than that could send Sonos higher. Sonos will release its earnings on Wednesday evening.
CVS Health (NYSE: CVS)
Wednesday morning will see CVS Health offering an update on the lay of the land from its fourth quarter, with the company slated by Zacks to achieve revenue growth of 9% and EPS growth of 43%.
The company’s adjusted earnings for the full year are expected to fall in between $8.33 to $8.38 a share, with CVS having upped estimates just a few weeks ago at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference and insisted that it has “strong momentum” heading into 2022.
This is a company which is seen as having benefitted from the COVID-19 response, having administered 8.5 million tests and 11.6 million vaccinations during its previous quarter.
Some investors are unsure whether CVS will continue to grow as vaccine and testing volumes look likely to drop off in the coming year, but Chief Financial Officer Shawn Guertin has indicated the reprieve from COVID-19 will improve profits from the company’s health-care benefits business due to reduced pandemic-related costs.