Nike And BlackBerry Highlight Another Quiet Earnings Week

Nelson Hem

Sun, Sep 20, 2015, 9:25 AM

As the calendar quarter winds down, it will be another fairly quiet week on the earnings front.

Wall Street analysts by and large expect to see at least a little growth in earnings from packaged foods giants ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE: CAG) and General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS) when they share their latest quarterly results this week.

Perhaps the most anticipated reports for the week will come from BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ: BBRY) and Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE). Consensus forecasts call for a net loss from the former and top- and bottom-line growth from the latter.

In addition, strong revenue growth at homebuilder KB Home (NYSE: KBH) is expected to be offset by dwindling earnings.

Here is a quick look at what is expected from these and a few of the week's other most prominent reports.

BlackBerry

This Ontario-based company will post a net loss of $0.05 per share for its fiscal second quarter, if Estimize's consensus forecast is accurate. That compares to a $0.02 per share loss in the same period of last year. Note that Wall Street is more pessimistic, with a consensus forecast of -$0.09 per share.

The 35 Estimize survey respondents see revenue for the three months that ended in August having fallen from $916.00 million in the year-ago quarter to $611.67 million. Again, that is a little more optimistic than the Wall Street analysts' view. Watch for the company to report before Friday's opening bell.

ConAgra

In its report early Tuesday, this maker of Slim-Jims and Egg Beaters is expected to say that its earnings per share (EPS) ticked up two pennies from a year ago to $0.41 for the three months that ended in August. Estimize did overestimate EPS in the previous quarter, but just by a penny.

However, the consensus of just three Estimize estimates has revenues at $3.69 billion for the fiscal first quarter, or about the same as in the year-ago period. Wall Street's consensus estimate is about the same, though they both overestimated on the top line in the previous quarter.

General Mills

The fiscal first-quarter forecast for this maker of Lucky Charms and Häagen-Dazs calls for EPS to have grown from $0.61 in the year-ago period to $0.71, according to eight Estimize respondents. Yet, revenue is expected to have slipped from $4.27 billion to $4.19 billion for the three months that ended in August.

Bottom-line results exceeded the expectations of Estimize in the previous period, but revenue of $4.30 billion fell well short of the estimates – hence the even lower bar for the most recent period. General Mills is expected to release its results Tuesday before the regular trading session commences.

KB Home

The consensus of four estimates for this Los Angeles-based homebuilder has earnings at $0.24 per share and for revenue to come in at $805.86 million for its fiscal third quarter, when it reports Thursday morning. In the year-ago period, it posted $0.28 EPS on revenue of $589.21 million.

Wall Street is more optimistic on revenue, with a consensus estimate of $818.11 million, or almost 39 percent year-on-year growth, with almost as much again in the current quarter. Note, though, that both Wall Street and Estimize overestimated revenue back in the second quarter.

Nike

When Nike shares results late Thursday, the consensus of 57 Estimize estimates is that this iconic sports apparel maker will show earnings of $1.21 per share. That would be up from $2.09 per share in the same period last year. Both Estimize and Wall Street underestimated EPS in the prior quarter.

Revenue for the three months that ended in August will be around 3 percent higher than a year ago to $8.28 billion, if Estimize is correct. Wall Street is a bit more pessimistic, with an $8.21 consensus, and the analysts see year-on-year top-line growth of more than 4 percent in the current quarter.

And Others

Among the other companies expected to report this week, Wall Street anticipates seeing year-on-year EPS gains from Accenture, Bed Bath & Beyond, CarMax, Darden Restaurants, Jabil Circuit, Lennar and Red Hat. But, they foresee a smaller profit from Pier 1 Imports.

In the following week, watch from the latest quarterly reports from the likes of Costco and Micron Technology, and then after that the third-quarter earnings season begins, kicked off by reports from PepsiCo and Alcoa.

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