Investing

Earnings Previews: H&R Block, Sonos, Campbell Soup, Express

Courtesy of Campbell's

A light schedule of companies reporting earnings continues this week, with only a relative handful of companies that attract significant investor interest scheduled to report.

There was just one report of note on Monday when China-based electric vehicle maker Xpeng reported a mixed quarter but a positive delivery outlook for the current quarter.

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After markets close Monday, Stitch Fix and GoHealth are on tap to report results, while sporting goods retailer Dick’s is on the schedule for Tuesday before markets open.

Here we take a look at four earnings results coming up Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

H&R Block

In 2020, H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) suffered a share price setback as the stock dropped about 28% of its value during the year. The shares have added more than 26% for the year to date and over the past 12 months, the stock is up about 8%.

The consensus analysts’ rating is basically a Hold, with four of six brokerages covering the firm issuing or maintaining Hold ratings and with two Buy ratings. The consensus price target on the stock is $19.29 and the stock recently traded above that level at $20.05. At the high price target of $25, the stock has a potential upside of around 25%.

For the fiscal third quarter that ended in January, H&R Block is expected to post a loss per share of $1.29 on revenue of $373.5 million. That’s more than double the firm’s loss in the same period a year ago. For the full fiscal year ending in April, the company is expected to post earnings per share (EPS) of $4.25, nearly four times its EPS in the prior fiscal year. Fiscal year revenue is forecast at $3.55 billion, a jump of 35% year over year.

The current quarter, which coincidentally includes the company’s busiest season of the year, is expected to see EPS of $5.12 on revenue of $2.43 billion.

At the current price, the stock is trading at around six times expected 2021 earnings and about eight times expected 2022 and 2023 EPS.

Sonos

Shares of Sonos Inc. (NYSE: SONO) rose by nearly 80% in 2020 and had added another 76% by March 1. They have pulled back by about 20 percentage points since then, but the high-end speaker maker is surely on a roll.

The stock is not widely covered by analysts. Of the six we know of, three have the stock as a Hold and the others rate Sonos a Buy. At the current price of around $37, the potential gain at a consensus price target of $40.50 is nearly 8%. At the high price target of $45, the potential upside is nearly 22%.

Analysts expect Sonos to post a fiscal first-quarter loss per share of $0.22, less than half the loss it posted in the same period a year ago. Revenue is expected to improve by 38% to $242 million. For the full year ending in September, Sonos is expected to post EPS of $0.08 on sales of $1.56 billion. The company posted a loss of $0.18 per share a year ago on sales of $1.33 billion.

At the current share price, the stock trades at about 27 times expected 2021 earnings, 24 times expected 2022 earnings and 22 times expected 2023 earnings.

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Campbell Soup

While ultimately Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) traded less than 1% higher in 2020, at different points in the year, the share price fell by more than 16% and rose by nearly 11%. So far in 2021, shares have traded down less than 0.5% after having jumped to a gain of 10% in late January.

The stock is among the worst performers so far this year among the 10 largest consumer defensive stocks so far this year and the second most-traded stock in the group with an average daily volume of around 2.2 million. Campbell Soup reports results before markets open Wednesday.

Since October, just one brokerage (Jefferies) has put a Buy rating on the stock while five others have maintained ratings of Hold. The stock currently trades at around $47.80 a share, some $3.09 (about 6.5%) below the consensus analyst target of $50.89. Shares trade almost $12 below the high target of $59, implying a potential upside of around 25%.

For its fiscal second quarter, Campbell Soup is expected to announce EPS of $0.83, up about 11% year over year, and sales of $2.3 billion, up about 6.4%. For the full year, analysts are looking for EPS of $3.03 (up about 1%) on sales of $8.43 billion (down 3%).

At the current share price, the stock trades at around 16 times expected 2021 and 2022 EPS and about 15 times expected 2023 EPS. Campbell Soup pays an annual dividend of $1.48, for a yield of 3.18%.

Express

Express Inc. (NYSE: EXPR) watched its share price collapse by 81% in 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic that hammered the apparel retailer’s top and bottom lines. Shares soared more than 900% in the final week of January, as a short squeeze forced short sellers to cover their bets

Analysts mostly rate the stock at Hold (eight of nine ratings) with shares already trading at more than double (about $3) the consensus price target of $1.42. The stock’s 52-week high is $13.97, and that was posted on January 27. Shares closed at $2.46 last Friday, and the stock traded up more than 23% on Monday.

Analysts expect the stock to report a fourth fiscal quarter net loss of $0.82 per share (more than four times worse than the year-ago profit of $0.19 per share). Sales were off 30% at $424.7 million. For the 2021 fiscal year just ended, analysts expect a loss per share of $5.03, much worse than last year’s loss of $0.13 per share, on sales of $1.2 billion, a drop of 40% year over year.

There is little likelihood that analysts are wrong about the stock and every likelihood that investors driving the price up Monday will be sorry if they can’t dump the stock by Wednesday morning.

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