Posts Tagged ‘analyst expectations’

We are looking for Barnes & Noble to report earnings at the midpoint of their guidance range after delivering stronger than expected results last quarter. While the book seller continues to face severe economic headwinds, we believe the company remains focused on maintaining gross margins and reducing expenses.

While top-line growth remains challenging due to weak economic factors, Target continues to deliver strong margins through solid expense management.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen increased optimism over improving economic conditions. The housing markets appear to have bottomed, consumer confidence is increasing, and the unemployment rate in July actually improved to 9.4%. These are all positive signs for Lowe’s as consumers begin to invest again in home improvement projects.

After being the top Dow stock in 2008, Walmart’s shares have been one of the Dow index worst performing stocks this year. Investors who have seen their portfolio’s ravished over the last two years have been shifting into riskier investments with the hope of capitalizing on big gains as the economy recovers.

We are looking for Procter & Gamble to continue to trend among Dow stocks of delivering better than expected results this quarter.

We are expecting solid second quarter results out of Chevron driven primarily by significantly higher oil prices in the quarter.

The decline in consumer spending has significantly impacted their theme park segment, while a weak advertising environment has impacted their media segment.

New Dow component Travelers has continued to gain market share despite the current economic recession.

The second quarter earnings season has started out with the first twelve Dow stocks all reporting better than expected earnings results. We expect that Verizon will also follow that pattern and beat analyst expectations.

We believe the economic environment improved somewhat in the second quarter which should enable AXP to deliver better than expected results once again, but remain concerned about increasing credit losses and declining consumer spending.