Equities closed higher on Friday and maintained their weekly gains ahead of the holiday weekend. Lead by strong tech performances from the FAANGs — Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX) and Google (GOOG , GOOGL) — the Nasdaq jumped 5.3% for the week, besting the 4.3% gains seen by the Dow and S&P 500.
Earnings season might be is winding down, but there are a basket of retail heavyweights reporting this coming week — many of which have the potential to move the markets higher. Lead by Dow components Home Depot and Walmart, here are a few stocks to keep an eye on.
Home Depot (HD) – Reports before the open, Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Wall Street expects EPS of $1.62 per share on revenue of $23.67 million. This compares to the year-ago quarter of $1.44 per share on $22.21 billion in revenue.
What to Watch: Can revenue, earnings and comps continue to rise? Thanks to commodity price inflation in building materials, lumber and copper, revenue has been strong over the past couple of quarters, driving higher transaction growth by 5% year over year. Last quarter, the Atlanta-based company reported comp sales that rose about 8% year over year, accelerating above the 6% growth rate achieved for the first nine months of fiscal 2017.
Walmart (WMT) – Reports before the open, Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Wall Street expects EPS of $1.37 per share on revenue of $134.91 billion, compared to the year-ago quarter of $1.30 per share on $130.94 billion in revenue.
What to Watch: The retail giant has surpassed revenue estimates in the previous two quarters, while topping same-store sales estimates in the third quarter. Wall Street expects the positive trends to continue. On Friday Susquehanna Financial analyst Bill Dreher reiterated his positive stock rating on the stock and boosted its price target to $126 from $115, citing Walmart’s strong position in food.
Pandora Media (P) – Reports after the close, Wednesday , Feb. 21.
Wall Street expects a per-share loss of 8 cents on revenue of $375.82 million, compared to the year-ago quarter of a loss of 13 cents per share on $392.6 million in revenue.
What to Watch: To fight off Apple (AAPL) and Spotify, Pandora, still the largest streaming music platform in the U.S., recently announced an organizational restructuring aimed at strengthening its finances and growth position. the Oakland, Calif.-based company will cut its workforce by 5% by the end of Q1 and will instead invest initiatives such as ad-tech and audience development. These moves will save the company $45 million annually.
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) – Reports after the close, Thursday , Feb. 22.
Wall Street expects EPS of 22 cents per share on revenue of $7.07 billion, compared to the year-ago quarter of 45 cents per share on $11.41 billion in revenue.
What to Watch: HPE has beaten analysts’ average EPS estimates in three of the last four quarters. And with better-than-expected results just released from Cisco (CSCO), suggesting an uptick in enterprise spending, HPE is poised to deliver strong numbers this quarter. Last month Deutsche Bank raised its price target on the stock by $3 to $19, calling HPE a growth value-play for 2018.
