Investing

Earnings Preview: Ambarella, Canopy Growth, HP Enterprise, Zoom

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The Memorial Day holiday effectively shuts down the remaining trickle of earnings reports until next Tuesday morning. Next week we’ll be getting reports from more retailers and a few tech firms, among others.

Here’s a look at the results of reports from Box, Costco, Dell, Gap and Salesforce, all posted after markets closed Thursday. After markets closed Wednesday and before they opened Thursday morning we also had earnings reports from Best Buy, Medtronic, Nvidia and Pure Storage.
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This preview looks at one firm reporting earnings before markets open Tuesday morning and three more companies reporting after Tuesday’s closing bell.

Canopy Growth

Canada-based marijuana producer Canopy Growth Corp. (NASDAQ: CGC) reports fourth-quarter fiscal 2021 results before markets open on Tuesday. Its share price rose by nearly 17% last year, after plunging by more than 50% in late March. From a high of around $57 in the fall of 2018, shares dropped to around $26 recently. Cannabis companies have faced some tough times over the past two-and-a-half years, but recent legalization of cannabis in New York and New Jersey offers large, new markets for the industry.

Analysts are mostly cautious on the stock, with 11 of 18 brokerage firms rating the shares a Hold. At a median price target of $31.93, the upside potential based on a current price of around $25.50 is more than 25%. At the high target of $41.82, upside potential is 64%.

Canopy Growth is expected to post a loss per share of $0.20 in the fourth fiscal quarter and a fiscal year loss of $1.56. Quarterly revenue is tabbed at $126 million, a 51% year-over-year increase. Full-year revenue is forecast to rise by 64% to $465.2 million.

The company is not expected to post a profit in 2021, 2022 or 2023. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $13.83 to $56.50, and the average daily trading volume is about 3.5 million shares.

Ambarella

Semiconductor maker Ambarella Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA) had a share price boost of nearly 52% last year and has added about 10% so far in 2021. Over the past 12 months, shares have added around 78%. The company reports first-quarter 2022 earnings after markets close Tuesday.

Earlier this week the company announced collaborations with Lumentum and ON Semiconductor on next-generation artificial intelligence-Internet of Things (AIoT) AI-based 3D sensing devices. Technology from Lumentum and ON will be combined using Ambarella’s AI system-on-a-chip to deliver more accuracy and better decision-making on AIoT devices.

Of 18 brokerages covering the stock, 17 rate the shares a Buy or Strong Buy. At the median price target of $137, the potential upside on the shares at a price of around $101.25 is 35.3%. At the high target of $160, upside potential is 58%.

Consensus estimates call for Ambarella to report quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.17 on sales of $68.64 million. That represents year-over-year revenue growth of 26% and profit growth of 325%. Full-year EPS is forecast to rise by 155%, with sales rising by 26% to nearly $291 million.

Ambarella stock trades at 14.5 times expected 2022 EPS and 9.4 times estimated 2023 earnings. The stock’s 52-week range is $43.69 to $137.21. The average daily trading volume is around 540,000 shares.


Hewlett Packard Enterprise

After markets close Tuesday, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE: HPE) will report fiscal second-quarter results. The company’s focus on enterprise computing did not hold off the COVID-19 pandemic. Shares lost 22% last year but have rebounded this year to post a year-to-date gain of more than 36%. Over the past 12 months, shares are up about 71%. Other enterprise specialists, like Salesforce.com, have posted big quarterly gains and anything less than a home run from Hewlett Packard Enterprise likely will be punished.
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Brokers are lukewarm on the stock, with 11 of 22 rating the shares a Hold. There are nine, however, that have the stock as a Buy or Strong Buy. At around $16.00 a share, the upside potential based on a median price target of $16.95 is about 6%. At the high target of $20, upside potential is 25%.

Analysts expect the company to report sales of $6.61 billion for the quarter, a year-over-year increase of around 1%. EPS is forecast to rise by nearly double to $0.42. For the full 2021 fiscal year, analysts are forecasting EPS of $1.84 and sales of $27.68 billion.

The stock trades at a multiple of about 8.7 times expected 2021 EPS, 8.3 times estimated 2022 earnings and 8.0 times estimated 2023 earnings. The stock’s 52-week range is $8.28 to $16.74, and the average daily trading volume is about 11.3 million shares. The company pays an annual dividend of $0.48 (yield of 2.96%).

Zoom

Online meeting platform Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) had a big year in 2020, with its share price rising by nearly 400%. At one point in mid-October, the stock had gained more than 700%. It’s no surprise, perhaps, that shares are trading roughly flat so far in 2021 as the country begins to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. When the company reports first-quarter fiscal 2022 results late Tuesday, analysts and investors will want to hear about the future and how Zoom plans to consolidate its gains.

Brokerages have adopted a wait-and-see attitude on Zoom, with exactly half of the 24 firms surveyed giving it a Hold rating. There are just two Sell/Strong Sell ratings. At the median price target of $425, upside potential based on a price of around $335.65 is 26.6%. At the high target of $550, upside potential is almost 64%.

Consensus estimates call for EPS of $0.98, nearly 400% higher than in the same quarter last year, with sales totaling $907.68 million, a rise of 177% year over year. For the full 2022 fiscal year, analysts are forecasting sales of $3.8 billion and EPS of $2.92.

The shares trade at a multiple of nearly 90 times expected 2022 EPS and 81.8 times estimated 2023 earnings. The stock’s 52-week range is $167.86 to $588.84, and the average daily trading volume is around 4 million shares.

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