Revenues will take center stage over the coming week as some of the largest U.S. companies from various industries report their second quarter 2021 results.
As the US economic recovery accelerates following the successful rollout of COVID vaccines, investors will focus on inflationary pressures and whether they are putting pressure on corporate margins. Based on earnings optimism, all three major US indices continued their upward trajectory this year, with the index and the index nearing record highs. Below we have shortlisted three stocks from different sectors. monitoring while the first quarter earnings season is in full swing:
1. Netflix
Streaming entertainment giant Netflix (NASDAQ:) will report Q2 results on Tuesday, July 20 after market close. Analysts expect earnings of $3.1 per share on sales of $7.32 billion.
After a strong recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic, Netflix stock is losing some steam as subscriber growth slows and competition in the streaming market intensifies. In April, the Los Gatos, California-based company reported net new members in the first quarter were 2 million lower than its forecast.
As of closing at $530.31 Friday, Netflix shares are down 2% this year, compared to tech-heavy NASDAQ's 12% expansion over the same period. Next week's earnings report will be critical if the stock is to break this slow cycle and move higher. Netflix must show that it is well positioned to outperform its rivals, even as the pandemic-driven surge in user growth picks up. cooling rapidly.
2. Johnson & Johnson
Global health giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) will report its second quarter results before the market opens on Wednesday, July 21. According to analysts' consensus forecast, the company is expected to report $2.29 EPS on $22.5 billion in revenue for the period.
In addition to quarterly earnings, investors are eager to learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and its effectiveness in protecting against the rapidly spreading Delta variant.
J&J's shot is struggling to gain broad traction amid manufacturing problems and after a brief hiatus in use as regulators investigated reports that some people had dangerous blood clots after getting it. The hiatus was lifted on April 23 after 10 days. Despite the slump in vaccines, J&J's underlying business is as the U.S. economy reopens and hospitals are gradually operating more elective surgeries following the COVID-19 disruption, which hurt the company's device business in 2020. Shares of J&J are down this year. increased by 7%. They closed on Friday at $168.10.
3. IBM
International Business Machines (NYSE:) will release its latest quarterly earnings on Monday, July 19, after the market closes. Analyst consensus on IBM is for earnings per share of $2.32 on revenue of $18.29 billion for the quarter ended June 30.
Big Blue, which is in the midst of a major turnaround, is showing signs of succeeding in generating additional revenue from its cloud business. IBM posted 11 quarters in April, driven by demand for cloud services. IBM also reported that Red Hat — which it bought for $34 billion in 2019 — had increased revenue by 17% in the first quarter. Arvind Krishna, who took over as CEO of Ginni Rometty last April, is focusing on artificial intelligence and the cloud to rekindle growth. Krishna has reorganized the company's operations around a hybrid cloud strategy, which allows customers to store data on private servers and across multiple public clouds.
Shares of IBM, which closed Friday at $138.90, have gained 10% this year
