Home Depot, Macy's And Wal-Mart: Mixed Earnings Expectations For Retail Giants

• Three leading retailers are due to report earnings this week.
• The most recent quarter included the all-important holiday shopping period.
• Wall Street expectations for the three are varied.

On the earnings front this week, the focus turns to the big retailers. Perhaps the most anticipated quarterly reports this week are all due first thing Tuesday morning.

Strong growth on the bottom line is expected from big-box specialty retailer Home Depot Inc HD, which was identified during the period as one of the retailers that could suffer from the new administration's proposed border adjustment tax.

The numbers at Macy's Inc M, which was among retailers that had a disappointing holiday season, are predicted to have slipped year over year.

And the consensus forecast for Wal-Mart Stores Inc WMT calls for mixed results for the period when the company outlined its job growth goals for this year.

Below is a quick look at what is expected from the results from these three, as well as a peek at some of the other upcoming quarterly reports from retailers.

Home Depot

The fiscal fourth-quarter profit of this Atlanta-based company is anticipated to come in at $1.33 per share, which would be a 12 percent gain from the year-ago period, according to Wall Street analysts. The consensus of 113 Estimize respondents has earnings pegged at $1.35 per share. Note that Estimize came within a penny of earnings per share results in the prior two quarters.

In Tuesday morning's report, analysts also are looking for $21.79 billion in revenue for the three months that ended in January, compared with the $21.86 billion that Estimize predicts and the $20.98 billion posted in the year ago period. Both Wall Street and Estimize have underestimated top line results in five of the past six periods.

See also: Will Kroger Get Dragged Into The Amazon, Wal-Mart E-Commerce Conflict?

Macy's

In its report before Tuesday's opening bell, this leading department store operator is expected to say it had per-share earnings of $1.97 in its fiscal fourth quarter, according to Estimize. That is about the same as the Wall Street consensus estimate and would be down from $2.09 per share a year ago. Note that Macy's fell short of EPS estimates by more than 58 percent in the previous quarter.

Estimize narrowly underestimated revenue in the prior quarter, and this time the 48 respondents are looking for $8.57 billion. Wall Street anticipates it will come to $8.62 billion. Either forecast would be down from the $8.87 billion reported in the year-ago period. Wall Street also anticipates year-on-year declines this year and the next.

Wal-Mart

The consensus Wall Street forecast calls for the world's largest retailer to post fiscal fourth-quarter EPS of $1.29 (down more than 13 percent from in the same period of last year) but for revenue to have edged up marginally to $131.22 billion. Note that analysts underestimated on the bottom line in the prior five quarters. This latest quarterly revenue projection would be the highest in almost two years.

Estimize is more optimistic on the bottom line, with the consensus of 97 respondents pegging EPS at $1.32. But revenue of $130.75 billion also is predicted for the three months that ended in January. Estimize overestimated top line results in the third quarter. Wal-Mart is scheduled to share its latest results before trading commences on Tuesday.

And Others

Other retailers that are anticipated to report earnings gains this week include Foot Locker, J.C. Penney and TJX Companies. But if the analysts are correct, earnings at Advance Auto Parts, Chico's FAS, Gap, Genuine Parts, HSN, L Brands, Kohl's, Nordstrom and Sprouts Farmers Market will be smaller than a year ago. And net losses are predicted for Lumber Liquidators and Wayfair.

Looking ahead to the following week, results are expected from retailers Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle Outfitters, Barnes & Nobel, Best Buy, Costco, Kroger, Lowe's, Office Depot, Target and many other companies.

Image Credit: By MikeMozartJeepersMedia (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons