3 Stocks To Watch In The Coming Week: CVS Health, PepsiCo, NVIDIA,
Investing.com | Feb 09, 2020 09:29
The past week's trade indicated that investors are finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the uncertainty around the still-spreading coronavirus outbreak, which to date has seen the number of fatalities, primarily in China, topping 800. On Friday, when the U.S. economy produced a stronger than expected jobs report, there was no other reason for stocks to decline.
Despite this economic strength, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 277 points, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ both declined 0.54% during the trading day. That trend is likely to continue as health officials globally scramble to control the epidemic and officials warn about the economic cost of the outbreak.
Chinese authorities said fatalities in China from the coronavirus reached a single-day high of 89 on Saturday; on Friday they also confirmed 3,399 new cases of infections from the virus that causes respiratory illnesses, bringing the total number of people infected to 37,198.
Along with this macro risk, investors will be digesting some important earnings releases this coming week. These three could have key implications:
h2 1. CVS Health/h2CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) reports on Wednesday, Feb. 12, before the market opens. For the fourth quarter of 2019, analysts expect earnings per share of $1.68 on sales of $63.9 billion.
The drug store chain raised its 2019 earnings forecast a couple of times, helped by growing revenue and profit from the company’s drug benefits unit. CVS’s success is being driven by a diverse mix of corner pharmacies, drug benefit-related services and health insurance, an agglomeration of strength competitors are lacking.
At the same time, the company has been transforming some of its stores into “health hubs,” transitioning retail floor space into areas where customers can get medical and other health services. Even as the Rhode Island-based health services company raised its profit forecast in November, retail rival Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) has been slashing costs and closing stores.
This strong growth also helped CVS shares, which rose more than 23% in the past six months, outperforming peers. The stock closed on Friday at $71.56 after gaining more than 1% for the day.
h2 2. PepsiCo Inc./h2Snack and beverage giant PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) will report fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, Feb. 13, before the market opens. Analysts, on average, expect $1.44 a share profit on sales of $20.24 billion.
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Last year, Pepsi continued its strong growth momentum as consumers didn’t put a brake on their purchases despite the soda-maker raising prices for its products. Pepsi said in October it will meet or exceed its full-year revenue growth after sales and profit both topped Wall Street estimates for Q3.
That report had provided strong evidence that Pepsi’s sales momentum is backed by a robust demand revival and the success of the company’s product mix which includes such popular brands as Tropicana, Pepsi, Frito-Lay and Tostitos brand chips.
After rising 28.5% in the past 12 months, Pepsi hit a record high on Friday of $145.72, the stock closed just a hair lower, at $145.37.
h2 3. NVIDIA Corporation/h2One of the world's largest chipmakers, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), also reports Q4 earnings on Thursday, albeit after the close. Analysts are expecting EPS of $1.66 a share on revenues of $2.96 billion.
After the U.S.-China trade deal, along with strong demand from gaming products, data centers and cell phone manufacturers, the semiconductor sector is going through a revival. But NVIDIA's recent stock rally leaves a little room for error.
Investors have been bidding up shares of the Santa Clara, CA-based chipmaker since August, boosting the stock 70% higher in the past 12 months. Shares closed on Friday at $251.59 after falling 1%.
Given the company's large exposure to China, this coming week's earnings report and outlook will be very important for investors to see whether the company expects any impact on its business from the coronavirus outbreak.
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