AMD, Alibaba, Starbucks Earnings On Deck As Q2 Reporting Season Passes Half-Way Mark

We are past the halfway mark of the June quarter reporting season, going by the number of S&P 500 companies that have reported their earnings.

Q2 Reporting Season Thus Far: About 56% of S&P 500 companies have released their financial results, with 73% reporting earnings beats and 66% revenue beats, FactSet said in its weekly Earnings Insight report. The second-quarter blended earnings growth rate for S&P 500 companies is 6%, the lowest since the 4% growth for the fourth quarter of 2020, the firm said.

Among the high-profile beats of the past week were Apple, Inc. AAPL and Amazon, Inc. AMZN. On the other hand, Meta Platforms, Inc. META and Intel Corporation INTC turned in disappointing results.

Another Busy Week Ahead: The unfolding week will see earnings releases from 152 S&P 500 companies, including 2 Dow components, Factset said. Notable companies scheduled for the week are:

Caterpillar, Inc. CAT

Earnings Schedule: Tuesday, before the market open
EPS Estimate: $3.01 Vs. $2.06 a year ago
Revenue Estimate: $14.35 billion Vs. $12.89 billion a year ago

Caterpillar warned in April that the COVID lockdowns in China may hurt its June quarter results due to weak mining demand in the country. Strong performance elsewhere could help offset this negativity

PayPal, Inc. PYPL

Earnings Schedule: Tuesday, after the market close
EPS Estimate: $0.86 Vs. $1.15 a year ago
Revenue Estimate: $6.78 billion Vs. $6.24 billion a year ago

PayPal has seen its shares pull back sharply amid the tech downturn, as its former parent eBay continues to move payment processing away from its platform. The company is also facing pressure from consumers taking to offline purchases post the pandemic.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD

Earnings Schedule: Tuesday, after the close
EPS Estimate: $1.03 Vs. $0.63 a year ago
Revenue Estimate: $6.53 billion Vs. $3.85 billion a year ago

After peer Intel’s underwhelming second-quarter report last week, investors are likely to be keen to check out AMD’s results to see whether the weakness is across-the-board or company-specific.

Rosenblatt’s Hans Mosesmann expects AMD to beat estimates, thanks to strong share gains in CPUs and GPUs. The focus on the earnings call will likely be on commentary on next-generation CPU Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 and EPYC 4, next-generation RDNA/CDNA GPU roadmaps, and early synergies that Xilinx FPGAs bring to broader end markets such as communications, data center, automotive, and industrial, he added.

Related Link: Will The S&P 500 Finish Higher In 2022? Here's What Analysts Predict
Starbucks Corporation SBUX

Earnings Schedule: Tuesday, after the close
EPS Estimate: $0.75 Vs. $1.01 a year ago
Revenue Estimate: $8.1 billion Vs. $8.65 billion a year ago

The coffee chain retailer had a disappointing first quarter as higher costs ate into earnings. The company also cut its earnings forecast for the full year. The second-quarter results could take a hit from the COVID lockdowns in China, its second-biggest market.

Uber Technologies, Inc. UBER

Earnings Schedule: Tuesday, after the close
EPS Estimate: (-$0.26) Vs. $0.58 a year ago
Revenue Estimate: $7.39 billion Vs. $3.9 billion a year ago

Needham analysts noted that the company has been outperforming peer Lyft, Inc. LYFT in the wait period and therefore see scope for share gains. The analysts expect the company to guide to a sequential increase in third-quarter mobility and delivery bookings.

CVS Health Corp. CVS

Earnings Schedule: Wednesday, before the market open
EPS Estimate: $2.17 Vs. $2.42 a year ago
Revenue Estimate: $76.37 billion Vs. $72.62 billion a year ago

CVS, a drug-store chain and health insurance company, reported better-than-expected results for the first quarter and raised its guidance for the year.

Moderna, Inc. MRNA

Earnings Schedule: Wednesday, before the market open
EPS Estimate: $4.55 Vs. $6.46 a year ago
Revenue Estimate: $4.07 billion Vs. $4.35 billion a year ago

COVID vaccine manufacturer Moderna will be up against a tougher comparison with the year-ago period, which saw a spike in vaccine sales. With the pandemic abating and competition from effective COVID treatments intensifying, the company needs to diversify its revenue base in the future to deliver consistently.

eBay, Inc. EBAY

Earnings Schedule: Wednesday, after the close
EPS Estimate: $0.89 Vs. $0.99 a year ago
Revenue Estimate: $2.37 billion Vs. $3 billion a year ago

Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju cut the price target for eBay shares from $62 to $59 ahead of the results, citing lower-than-expected gross merchandise volume outlook, marking-to-market of equity stakes, and forex impact. The analyst expects a 10% negative impact due to the currency effect.

Paramount Global PARA

Earnings Schedule: Thursday, before the market open
EPS Estimate: $0.57 Vs. $0.97 a year ago
Revenue Estimate: $7.52 billion Vs. $6.56 billion a year ago

Soft ad revenue and subscriber losses could have impacted the media conglomerate's quarterly performance. However, success with theatrical releases such as “Top Gun: Maverick” should mitigate some of the weaknesses.

Alibaba Group Holding, Inc. BABA

Earnings Schedule: Thursday, before the market open
EPS Estimate: $1.52 Vs. $2.57 a year ago
Revenue Estimate: $30.05 billion Vs. $32.27 billion a year ago

Alibaba's stock turned the corner recently amid hopes that the Chinese regulatory clampdown could ease. The company is widely expected to see revenue and earnings per share declines for the quarter, hurt by the COVID breakout in China during the quarter.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY closed Friday’s session 1.46% higher at $411.99, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo: Courtesy of RosieTulips on flickr