With the Memorial Day holiday coming up, the flood of earnings reports will be slowing to a trickle until a couple of weeks after the June quarter closes.

We also have taken a look at the results of reports from AutoZone, Lordstown Motors and Zymergen, all posted after markets closed Monday or before they opened Tuesday. After markets close Tuesday and before they open Wednesday morning we expect to get reports from Abercrombie, Li Auto, Nordstrom and Zscaler.
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This preview looks at two companies reporting quarterly results Wednesday afternoon and two more scheduled to release results Thursday morning.

Nvidia

Graphics chipmaker Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) was one of 2020’s outstanding performers, posting a share price gain of 122%. 2021 has been a bit bumpier, but the shares are still up nearly 20%. The company declared a 4-for-1 stock split recently in the hopes of ginning up more activity with a share price closer to $150 than $625. The ups and downs of cryptocoin mining have had a big impact on sales, and the company is still seeking regulatory approval for its acquisition of semiconductor designer Arm.

Of 38 brokerages covering the company, 21 rate the stock a Buy or Strong Buy, and 15 have Hold ratings on the shares. At a recent price of around $622, the implied upside based on a consensus price target of $669.16 is 7.6%. At the high target of $800, upside potential is nearly 29%.

Analysts expect first fiscal quarter 2022 earnings per share of $3.28 on sales of $5.4 billion. For the full fiscal year, estimates call for EPS of $13.61 and sales of $22.42 billion.

The stock trades at around 64.0 times expected 2022 EPS and 40.5 times estimated 2023 earnings. The stock’s 52-week range of $319.87 to $648.57, and Nvidia pays an annual dividend of $0.64 (yield of 0.10%). The average daily trading volume is nearly 8.4 million shares.

Pure Storage

Flash storage maker Pure Storage Inc. (NYSE: PSTG) posted a share price gain of just over 32% last year, but it trades down about 17% so far in 2021. That’s good enough for a share price gain of around 11% since January of 2020. Subscription revenue to the company’s Pure-as-a-Service is expected to help boost sales as are more sales of its FlashArray and FlashBlade products.

Analysts are bullish on Pure Storage, with 14 of 20 giving the shares a Buy or Strong Buy rating. At a price of around $18.90, the stock’s implied upside to a consensus price target of $28.33 is nearly 50%. At the high target of $33, upside potential is almost 75%.

Latest estimates call for Pure Storage to post a per-share loss of $0.06 on sales of $403.91 million in the company’s first quarter of fiscal 2022. For the full year, analysts are looking for EPS of $0.29 and sales of $1.94 billion.

Shares trade at a multiple of 64.1 times expected 2022 EPS and 38.0 times estimated 2023 earnings. The stock’s 52-week range is $13.91 to $29.53, and the average daily trading volume is nearly 5 million shares. Pure Storage does not pay a dividend.
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Best Buy

Tech retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is reporting April quarter results before markets open Thursday. The company’s share price ended up adding nearly 17% last year, after plunging by more than 40% in late March. The share price has improved by another 16% so far this year. Best Buy raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour last August. In this year’s January quarter, net income of $816 million surpassed net income of $745 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2021.

Analysts have taken a wait-and-see position on Best Buy, with 16 of 25 brokerages giving the stock a Hold rating and two rating the stock at Sell. At around $114.90 a share, the upside potential based on a consensus price target of $118.85 is just 3.4%. At the high target of $150, upside potential is more than 30%.

The consensus estimates call for EPS of $1.35 and revenue of $10.3 billion. The full-year forecast estimates EPS of $7.33 and sales of $46.91 billion.

Shares trade at around 15.5 times expected 2022 EPS and 14.3 times estimated 2023 earnings. The stock’s 52-week range is $75.27 to $128.57, and the average daily trading volume is around 2.6 million. Best Buy pays an annual dividend of $2.80% (yield of 2.44%).

Medtronic

Medical device maker Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT) is announcing fourth-quarter and full fiscal year 2021 results before the opening bell on Thursday. Shares tumbled more than 35% in late March last year but managed to climb to a gain of 5.7% by year’s end. Year to date, the stock is up almost 9%. Net income growth has declined the past four consecutive quarters, missing by nearly 34% in the January quarter. Investors will be looking to see if growth returned in the April quarter.

Here too, analysts are cautious on Medtronic, with 11 of 23 recommending the shares with a Buy or Strong Buy rating. At a price of $128.40, upside potential based on a consensus price target of $135.11 is 5.2%. At the high target of $153, upside potential is 19%.

The consensus estimates for fourth-quarter EPS and revenue are $1.42 and $8.14 billion, respectively. For the full fiscal year, analysts have forecast EPS of $4.34 and revenue of $29.98 billion.

Medtronic’s stock trades at a multiple of nearly 30.0 times expected 2021 EPS, 22.5 times estimated 2022 earnings and 20.3 times estimated 2023 earnings. The stock’s 52-week range is $87.68 to $132.30, and the average daily trading volume is around 4.5 million shares. Medtronic pays an annual dividend of $2.32 (yield of 1.81%).

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