Wall Street Week Ahead: Lennar, FedEx, Dollar General, GameStop and Fed’s Policy in Focus

Vivek Kumar

Sat, Mar 12, 2022, 9:34 PM 5 min read

The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to hike by 25 basis points to 0.25%-0.5% on Wednesday. Still, analysts will closely monitor inflation and the economic growth outlook and how the central bank projects future rate increases. The fear of a vicious cycle of low growth and higher inflation could deter the Fed from raising rates faster than expected previously.

Last week, the S&P 500 dropped 2.9%. Stocks in the energy sector were the top performers, up nearly 1.9%. Energy stocks have rallied on concerns about tightening supplies that have driven up oil and gas prices. The rally would likely continue this week.

In addition, investors will focus on December quarter earnings for economically sensitive stocks, which should show better profits than technology stocks amid surging inflation.

Earnings By Day

Earnings Calendar For The Week Of March 14

Monday (March 14)

TICKER	COMPANY	EPS FORECAST
CVGW	Calavo Growers	$-0.01
CORR	CorEnergy Infrastructure Trust	$0.37
MTN	Vail Resorts	$5.73

Tuesday (March 15)

TICKER	COMPANY	EPS FORECAST
CAL	Caleres	$0.46
CHMI	Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment	$0.28
IHS	IHS Holding	$0.04
KNDI	Kandi Technologies Group	$-0.07

Wednesday (March 16)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: LENNAR

The home construction and real estate company Lennar is expected to report earnings per share of $2.80 in the fiscal first quarter, which represents year-over-year growth of over 37% from $2.04 per share seen in the same period a year ago.

The Miami, Florida-based company would post year-over-year revenue growth of more than 16% to around $6.2 billion. The company has beaten consensus earnings estimates in most of the quarters in the last two years, at least.

“2020-2021 proved to be strong years for the U.S. housing market despite the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe favourable demographics will support steady residential construction activity this decade, with annual housing starts averaging 1.6 million units. We expect first-time buyers will be a key driver of future housing demand, and Lennar is well-positioned to capture these potential buyers with its increased mix of entry-level homes,” noted Brian Bernard, Sector Director at Morningstar.

“Lennar controls an ample land supply, which affords the company the ability to meet future demand while focusing on improving cash flows and maintaining a strong balance sheet. The company has shifted to a lighter land acquisition strategy, which seeks to reduce the amount of capital tied up in land by purchasing smaller land parcels and relying more on land options to acquire land on a just-in-time basis. We think this strategy should help the company realize better returns on invested capital and cash flows over the business cycle.”

A list of other earnings reports mentionable

TICKER	COMPANY	EPS FORECAST
GES	Guess?	$1.16
JBL	Jabil	$1.24
LE	Lands’ End	$0.33
SMTC	Semtech	$0.49

TAKE A LOOK AT OUR EARNINGS CALENDAR FOR THE FULL RELEASES FOR THE MARCH 16

Thursday (March 17)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: FEDEX, GAMESTOP, DOLLAR GENERAL

FEDEX: The Memphis, Tennessee-based multinational delivery services company FedEx is expected to report its fiscal third-quarter earnings of $4.47 per share, which represents year-over-year growth of over 28% from $3.47 per share seen in the same period a year ago.

The delivery firm would post revenue growth of over 9% to $23.58 billion. It is worth noting that the company has beaten earnings estimates only twice in the last four quarters.

“We are estimating adjusted EPS of $4.76, above the $4.69 consensus. FedEx (FDX) beat on the top and bottom lines last quarter as demand held in while costs remained manageable. We expect most strategic questions to be deferred to the June 28 /29 investor day,” noted Helane Becker, equity analyst at Cowen.

GAMESTOP: The world’s largest multichannel video game retailer GameStop is expected to report its fourth-quarter earnings of $1.06 per share, an improvement from a loss of -$1.39 per share seen in the third quarter. The Grapevine, Texas-based company is forecast to post year-over-year revenue growth of about 4% to around $2.2 billion.

DOLLAR GENERAL: The discount retailer is expected to report earnings per share of $2.59 in the fourth quarter of 2021, which represents a year-over-year decline of over 1.1% from $2.62 per share seen in the same period a year ago.

The Goodlettsville Tennessee-based company is expected to post a net income of $8.69 billion. The company has beaten consensus earnings estimates in most of the quarters in the last two years, at least.

“Dollar General (DG) is a best-in-class operator offering a rare combination of 1) consistent, high-quality top-and bottom-line results; 2) visible store growth; and 3) a shareholder-friendly capital allocation policy. The ’22 investment setup is less favourable given decelerating momentum from recent initiatives, a tougher macro backdrop, and ramping expense pressures (particularly on labour). Street estimates look full/fair with less upside potential in our view,” noted Simeon Gutman, equity analyst at Morgan Stanley.

“Dollar General’s (DG) valuation (~20x P/E multiple) is in-line with the market and screens relatively fair vs both relative and absolute history. Emerging initiatives (Popshelf, healthcare, produce) are longer-term drivers but likely won’t move the needle in ’22.”