5 US mega-stocks set to announce earnings
Chipmaker Intel and household name tech firm IBM are due to announce quarterly earnings this week, alongside Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Starbucks.
Jeremy Glaser: Earnings seasons rolls on this week.
Intel is trading in 4-star territory ahead of its report on Thursday. Analyst Abhinav Davuluri is positive on the wide-moat firm's prospects as it is seen as strengthening its core PC and data center markets as well as emerging traction from the Mobileye chips used for advanced driver-assistance systems.
IBM is due to report this week. The firm has been in the midst of what analyst Andrew Lange calls a juggling act as it tries to jump start its growth initiatives while managing its legacy, nonstrategic business lines. To that end, the firm announced it was buying open source software provider Red Hat in October. Lange thinks IBM is overpaying or paying a hefty price for the company and knocked down his fair value estimate, but still sees value in the shares today.
Morningstar's Erin Lash thinks that Procter & Gamble's turnaround is taking root. The market has noticed, too, with shares rising nearly 14 per cent over the last there months versus the broader market's more than 6% decline. Still shares are trading at a discount to our fair value estimate.
Johnson & Johnson has been in the spotlight over ongoing litigation about the safety of its talc powder. Analyst Damien Conover believes the firm is likely to face continued lawsuits, and that it could have an impact on the brand in consumers' eyes. Still, he thinks the firm's wide-moat is in place and that shares are fairly valued.
Starbucks is a compelling consumer growth story. Morningstar's R.J. Hottovy believes the firm is poised for top line and margin expansion in the years to come as it continues its evolution into a diversified retail and consumer packaged goods platform. Hottovy says shares are a bargain today.
Stay tuned for our take on these stories.