Wall Street Week Ahead Earnings: Caesars Entertainment, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Moderna in Focus

Investors will focus on December quarter earnings for stocks that are economically sensitive, which should show better profits than technology stocks. Increasing Treasury yields and risk aversion could hit the stock market hard over the coming months. In addition, investors will closely monitor the latest news on the rapidly spread Omicron coronavirus variant to see how it impacts earnings in 2022.

• Monday (February 21)
• Tuesday (February 22)
• Wednesday (February 23)
• Thursday (February 24)
• Friday (February 25)

Earnings Calendar For The Week Of February 21

Monday (February 21)

The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ will all be closed on Monday, February 21 for President’s Day.

Tuesday (February 22)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT, HOME DEPOT

CAESARS: The largest casino-entertainment Company in the U.S. company is expected to report its fourth-quarter loss of $-0.71 per share, up over 58%, better compared to a loss of $-1.7 per share seen in the same period a year ago. The Las Vegas-based company would post revenue growth of over 77% to $2.58 billion.

“Caesars Entertainment (CZR) is currently trading at below its historical NTM multiple on 2023e EBITDAR, despite our expectation of >1,000bps higher core casino margins and faster growth. We believe regional casino markets (55% of mix) have structural tailwinds from customers acquired post-COVID and sports betting legalization,” noted Thomas Allen, equity analyst at Morgan Stanley.

“We expect CZR to improve its sports betting / iGaming market share in coming qtrs, a key driver to Gaming stocks in recent years. High leverage now (7.5x at YE21) but significant FCF and a planned Vegas asset should drive leverage to ~5x by YE22, opening up a broader investor base.”

HOME DEPOT: The largest home improvement retailer in the United States is expected to report its fourth-quarter earnings of $3.22 per share, which represents year-over-year growth of over 17% from $2.74 per share seen in the same period a year ago.

The home improvement retailer would post revenue growth of over 7% to $34.6 billion. The company has beaten consensus earnings estimates in most of the quarters in the last two years, at least.

“We are Overweight Home Depot (HD) given its best-in-class nature and structural housing tailwinds beyond N-T disruption from COVID-19. The stock seems attractively valued in the context of a potential 2021/2022 economic/housing boom,” noted Simeon Gutman, equity analyst at Morgan Stanley.

TAKE A LOOK AT OUR EARNINGS CALENDAR FOR THE FULL RELEASES FOR THE FEBRUARY 22

 

Wednesday (February 23)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: LOWE’S

Home improvement retailer Lowe’s is expected to report its fourth-quarter earnings of $1.69 per share, which represents year-over-year growth of over 27% from $1.33 per share seen in the same period a year ago. The company that distributes building materials and supplies through stores in the United States would post revenue growth of over 2% to $20.82 billion.

“We view Lowe’s (LOW) favourably given its longer-term transformation opportunity and structural industry tailwinds, with substantial near-term uplifts from COVID-19 spending shifts that likely translate to longer-term sales retention,” noted Simeon Gutman, equity analyst at Morgan Stanley.

“Assuming a healthy underlying housing backdrop, we think comps can accelerate longer-term from stronger sales/sq ft trends, driven by e-comm accelerating, better in-stocks, product refreshes/exclusive launches, greater traction with Pro initiatives, and removing friction from the customer shopping experience. Combined with productivity initiatives, this should enable EBIT margin expansion going forward.”

TAKE A LOOK AT OUR EARNINGS CALENDAR FOR THE FULL RELEASES FOR THE FEBRUARY 23

 

Thursday (February 24)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: MODERNA

Moderna, the biotech company focused on drug discovery, is expected to report its fourth-quarter earnings of $8.62 per share, which represents year-over-year growth of over 1,340% from a loss of -$0.69 per share seen in the same period a year ago.

The Massachusetts-based biotechnology company would post revenue growth of 1,075% to around $6.71 billion.

“We are Equal-weight Moderna. While we believe there is long-term upside for Moderna, we believe the significant valuation increase associated with the success of the COVID-19 vaccine limits the near-term upside,” noted Matthew Harrison, equity analyst at Morgan Stanley.

“The company has taken an industrialized approach to developing mRNA based therapeutics and has rapidly generated a broad pipeline of 21 programs, 11 of which have entered clinical development. We believe Moderna’s mRNA drug development platform is more diversified and scalable compared with competitors, and is validated through broad partnerships with Merck and AstraZeneca. We see vaccines and rare diseases as the key valuation drivers of the company.”

TAKE A LOOK AT OUR EARNINGS CALENDAR FOR THE FULL RELEASES FOR THE FEBRUARY 24

 

Friday (February 25)