By Wallace Witkowski, MarketWatch
Disney headlines Dow companies reporting results this week
Big media and a host of consumer-focused stocks face a high
hurdle this week as many of those companies report earnings for the
June-ended quarter, when gauges of consumer health hit multi-month
highs.
U.S. stocks finished up this past week
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-sp-eyes-2-rise-for-month-but-month-end-volatility-seen-2015-07-31)with
the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.7%, the S&P 500 Index
up 1.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index advancing 0.8%.
The S&P 500's consumer discretionary sector advanced 1.7% on
the week, and is up 4.7% for the month. Along with healthcare, the
sector is also the best performing for the year with a gain of
about 11%.
Given the sector's performance and better-than-expected earnings
so far, consumer discretionary stocks will be held to a high
standard given consumer data from the second quarter.
By the end of the June, when most companies have finished up
their second quarter, consumer sentiment hit a five-month high
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-economic-slowdown-has-ended-consumers-say-2015-06-26),
and consumer confidence rose to levels not seen since the recession
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/confidence-in-jobs-market-strongest-since-great-recession-2015-06-30).
Earnings for the S&P 500 are tracking a 1.3% decline so far,
an improvement from the 4.6% decline forecast at the end of the
quarter, according to John Butters, senior earnings analyst at
FactSet. In comparison, consumer discretionary stocks are tracking
to meet an earnings gain of 7.8% from a year ago, compared with the
expectation of 4.7% growth when the second quarter ended.
Consumer discretionary companies will also be under the gun when
it comes to their outlook for the third quarter.
Of the 10 consumer discretionary companies that have issued an
outlook for the current quarter, none have issued earnings guidance
that topped analyst consensus at the time, according to Butters.
Not surprisingly, consumer sentiment
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/consumers-sentiment-pulls-back-but-still-elevated-2015-07-31)
fell in July, while consumer confidence
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-consumer-confidence-falls-sharply-in-july-2015-07-28)
for July fell to a 10-month low.
Nearly 100 S&P 500 companies report earnings this week along
with one Dow component, Walt Disney Co.(DIS) on Tuesday.
Notable earnings reports this week
Report date Company/Ticker (FactSet EPS/revenue estimate)
Mon., Aug. 3 NextEra Energy US:NEE ($1.50 / $4.21 billion) Tyson Foods US:TSN (92 cents / $10.3 billion)
Tues., Aug. 4 Walt Disney US:DIS ($1.41 / $13.17 billion)CVS Health Corp. US:CVS ($1.20 / $37.18 billion)Tenet Healthcare US:THC (45 cents / $4.38 billion)Allstate US:ALL (97 cents / $7.91 billion)Aetna US:AET ($1.82 / $15.46 billion)Scripps Network Interactive US:SNI ($1.25 / $728.8 million)
Weds., Aug. 5 Time Warner US:TWX ($1.03 / $6.9 billion)21st Century Fox US:FOXA US:FOX (37 cents / $6.44 billion) CBS US:CBS (73 cents / $3.21 billion)Discovery Communications US:DISCA US:DISCB (50 cents / $1.68 billion) Priceline Group US:PCLN ($11.85 / $2.27 billion)Keurig Green Mountain US:GMCR (79 cents / $1.04 billion)Tesla Motors US:TSLA (loss of 60 cents / $1.18 billion)
Thurs., Aug. 6 Viacom US:VIAB ($1.46 / $3.21 billion)Allergan US:AGN ($4.37 / $5.7 billion)Molson Coors Brewing US:TAP ($1.32 / $1.01 billion)Mylan US:MYL (89 cents / $2.39 billion)
Fri., Aug. 7 Cablevision Systems US:CVC (25 cents / $1.65 billion)Hershey Co. US:HSY (75 cents / $1.62 billion)
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