After a pause to observe the Memorial Day holiday, quarterly earnings reports began rolling out Tuesday morning with results from cannabis producer and consumer products maker Canopy Growth and cloud software firm Cloudera.

There were no reports either Friday or Monday, but here’s a look at results reported for four companies that announced late Thursday: Box, Costco, Dell, Gap and Salesforce.
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This preview looks at two firms reporting earnings after markets close Wednesday after and two more companies reporting before Thursday’s opening bell.

NetApp

NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) reports fiscal fourth-quarter results after markets close Wednesday. Shares plummeted more than 40% in late March of last year, but the stock recovered to post a gain of almost 11% for the full calendar year. To date in 2021, shares have added another 17%.

Brokers have mixed ratings on the stock, with 14 of 29 assigning Buy or Strong Buy ratings and 13 rating the shares at Hold. At a recent price of around $76.55, the stock shows upside potential of 4.4% to a consensus price target of $77.90. At a high target of $100, the upside potential is about 23.5%.

Analysts expect earnings per share (EPS) of $1.12 on sales of $1.5 billion for the quarter. For the fiscal year ended in April, estimates call for EPS of $4.01 on sales of $5.69 billion.

NetApp stock trades at a multiple of 19.1 times expected 2021 EPS, 16.9 times estimated 2022 earnings and 15.1 times estimated 2023 EPS. The stock’s 52-week range is $39.96 to $80.66, and NetApp pays an annual dividend of $1.92 (yield of 2.48%). The average daily trading volume is about 1.6 million shares.

Splunk

Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) also reports late Wednesday. The security and solutions software company posted a share-price gain of about 13.4% last year, but year to date, the shares have lost nearly 30% following a disappointing January quarter report.

Shares currently trade around $119.70, below the lowest price target of $125 and well below the consensus target of $180.47. Most analysts (33 of 43) view this as a buying opportunity, with upside potential of 50% based on the consensus target and 121% to the high target of $265.
Analysts expect Splunk to post a loss per share of $0.70 on sales of $491.85 million for its first quarter of fiscal 2022. Estimates for the new fiscal year call for the company to post a loss per share of $0.72 on sales of $2.54 billion. Those estimates imply a much better second half of calendar 2021.

Splunk is not expected to post a profit in either 2021 or 2022, but analysts say the shares trade at a multiple of 47.0 times estimated 2023 earnings. The stock’s 52-week range is $110.28 to $225.89, and the average daily trading volume is around 2.4 million shares. The company does not pay a dividend.
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Ciena

Networking hardware and software provider Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN) reports fiscal second-quarter results before markets open Thursday. Shares added nearly 24% in 2020 but have stalled so far this year, posting a drop of less than 1%.

Of 21 brokerages covering the stock, 17 rate Ciena as a Buy or Strong Buy. At a price of around $52.80, the potential upside to the consensus price target of $60.31 is about 14.2%. At the high target of $75, upside potential is 42%.

Analysts expect Ciena to post EPS of $0.48 for the quarter on sales of $829.27 million. The full-year forecast calls for EPS of $2.67 and sales of $3.59 billion.

The stock trades at a multiple of 19.7 times expected 2021 EPS, 17.0 times estimated 2022 earnings and 15.4 times estimated 2023 earnings. The stock’s 52-week range is $38.03 to $61.52, and the average daily trading volume is about 1.3 million shares. Ciena does not pay a dividend.

Express

Apparel retailer Express Inc. (NYSE: EXPR) also is scheduled to report quarterly results first thing Thursday. The stock dropped more than 80% last year and has jumped by nearly 400% so far in 2021, including a spike of nearly 950% in late January as small investors executed a short squeeze that saved the company from being delisted by the New York Stock Exchange.

Analysts have remained mostly neutral on the stock, with eight of nine rating the shares at Hold. The other one believes the shares are a Buy. At $4.53 per share, the stock has outrun its consensus price target of $4.08. At the high target of $5.00, upside potential is about 9.4%. Short sells still hold just over 7% of the company’s total float of about 60.5 million shares.

The retailer is expected to post a loss per share of $0.52 in its first fiscal quarter of 2022 on sales of $323.91 million. Full fiscal year estimates call for a per-share loss of $1.00 on sales of $1.72 billion.

Express is not expected to post a profit in 2022 or 2023. The stock’s 52-week range is $0.57 to $13.97, and the average daily trading volume is 13.2 million shares. The company does not pay a dividend.

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