Filed under: Company News, Earnings, Market News, Consumer Goods, Investing
Monday -- Test Drive
The new trading week kicks off with AutoZone (AZO) reporting quarterly results. The retailer sells auto parts across its growing universe of more than 5,000 stores. This has been a fragmented industry that's been ripe for consolidation, and AutoZone joins other larger players in snapping up regional faves.
Auto parts remains one of the more all-weather industries out there. If the economy's buzzing, there are more cars on the road. If the economy's tight, drivers hold on to their cars longer, and that requires more maintenance.
Tuesday -- The Great Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) is a leading retailer of housewares. It was on fire during the early stages of the housing recovery, but growth has slowed, and profitability is starting to go the wrong way. Analysts see a profit of $1.14 a share when it reports its latest quarterly financials on Tuesday, below the $1.16 a share it earned a year earlier. It could be worse. Bed Bath & Beyond has missed Wall Street's profit forecasts in two of the past three quarters.
Wednesday -- Home on the Range
Wall Street has been kind to homebuilders since the housing market started to bounce back in recent years, and KB Home (KBH) has gone along for the ride. The shares have more than tripled since bottoming out three years ago. KB Home is one of the country's larger real estate developers, having built more than half a million homes over the past 57 years. It reports on Wednesday morning.
We have already seen at least one of its peers show signs of slowing activity, with orders for new homes slowing and cancellations on the rise. This doesn't mean that KB Home's report will be a stinker. In fact, homebuilder confidence is at a nine-year high according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index. It will still be a report that bears watching.
Thursday -- Swoosh, There It Is
One stock checking in with fresh financials on Thursday is Nike (NKE). These are interesting times for the maker of athletic footwear and apparel, given the tumultuous state of the NFL. Nike suspended its contract with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson on child abuse allegations last week.
However, Nike isn't one to hang its name on just one star athlete in just one sport. It has long moved on from its days of relying heavily on Air Jordans. It's expected to report modest top- and bottom-line growth on Thursday, but it's highly likely that at least one analyst will ask for its take on the NFL situation.
Friday -- Phoning It In
It's merely a coincidence that BlackBerry (BBRY) reports its latest quarterly results exactly a week after the iPhone 6 hit the market. There was a time when BlackBerry dominated the then-nascent smartphone market, but we're living in a world of Android and iPhone handsets now.
The report isn't likely to be pretty. We've been seeing quarterly losses and cascading revenue for some time. BlackBerry has done a capable job of shaving costs in an attempt to trim its deficits, but it remains to be seen if there's still time to make BlackBerry matter again in the now-booming niche that it used to rule over several years ago.
Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Bed Bath & Beyond and Nike. The Motley Fool owns shares of Nike. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. To read about our favorite high-yielding dividend stocks for any investor, check out our free report.
