Salesforce
Salesforce is scheduled to release second quarter earnings after the closing bell today, with upbeat enterprise spending figures out from Microsoft and Amazon creating a buoyant mood as investors hope for a similar trend to play out for Salesforce’s marketing and cloud units.
Analysts are expecting revenue to rise to $6.23 billion from $5.15 billion but for adjusted EPS to fall to $0.92 from $1.44, in-line with the company’s guidance. The integration of Slack will also be under the spotlight since the acquisition completed in July, with the business set to contribute around $500 million in revenue over the full year.
Salesforce shares have been on the rise since the middle of May and hit its highest level since November on Monday. Brokers currently have a Buy rating on the stock and see over 8% potential upside from the share price.
Snowflake
Snowflake is also scheduled to release second quarter earnings once markets close today and is expected to continue to report strong topline growth as demand for cloud-based solutions continues to rise.
The company has said product revenue should come between $235 and $240 million, representing 88% to 92% year-on-year growth. That would mark a slowdown from the 110% growth delivered in the first quarter. Wall Street is expecting total revenue of $256.5 million and for reported net loss per share of $0.67.
JPMorgan upped its target price on Snowflake this morning ahead of the results to $270 from $250. That followed on from Jefferies bumping up its target to $275 from $250 on Monday.
Nordstrom
Nordstrom beat expectations in the latest quarter as revenue benefited from its Anniversary sale, but flagged that it is suffering from supply chain problems that are expected to last for the foreseeable future.
Net sales more than doubled year-on-year in the second quarter to $3.56 billion, having been flattered by the fact stores were closed for half of the quarter of the year before due to lockdown, and also improved compared to the first quarter – but they remained 6% below pre-pandemic levels. Net earnings of $80 million turned from a $255 million loss last year. Both came in ahead of expectations, with results boosted by growth from its Anniversary sale.
Nordstrom also upgraded its guidance for the full year and said it is now targeting revenue growth of over 35% compared to its original target of 25%. Wall Street had forecast 29% topline growth this year. It also said it expects to post a better Ebit margin of 3% to 3.5% versus its previous target for around 3%.
Dick’s Sporting Goods
Dick’s Sporting Goods reported record sales and earnings in the second quarter, raised its guidance, bumped up its dividend and said it will make a special payout.
The company said net sales were up over 20% in the quarter to $3.27 billion, having jumped 45% the year before. Adjusted EPS jumped 58% to $5.08. The company raised its dividend by 21% to 43.75 cents, said it would make a special payout of $5.50 per share and upped its share buyback plan to a minimum of $400 million.
The company also raised its expectations for the full year and is now expecting adjusted EPS of $12.45 to $12.95, which would be between 108% to 244% higher than the year before. Net sales are expected to rise by one-third this year and come in 21% above pre-pandemic levels.
Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters also reported record sales and earnings in the latest quarter as sales continued to boom past pre-pandemic levels as demand for its core brands continued to grow.
Net sales jumped to a record of $1.16 billion from $803.3 million the year before, when it was hit by store closures. Still, revenue was over 20% higher than pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019. Net income leapt to $127.3 million from $34.4 million, or to $1.28 from $0.35 on a per share basis. That was well ahead of the $0.77 EPS forecast by Wall Street.
Urban Outfitters said its performance was ‘driven by extraordinary performance at all three brands’. Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People Group all delivered a large increase in sales that remain well above 2019 levels.
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson said the latest data suggests its single-shot coronavirus vaccine could be used as an effective booster jab for those that have already received a dose of its vaccine.
The company launched a trial to examine the potential for its jab to be used as a booster and conducted two phase 1/2a studies involving people who have already had one of its vaccines. The latest results ‘demonstrate that a booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine generated a rapid and robust increase in spike-binding antibodies, nine-fold higher than 28 days after the primary single-dose vaccination.’
‘We look forward to discussing with public health officials a potential strategy for our Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, boosting eight months or longer after the primary single-dose vaccination,’ J&J…
