It’s a BIG week for retail sales…
The Federal Reserve releases retail sales data on Tuesday, and forecasters see it falling 0.2% versus a 0.6% gain in June.
But also pushing down investor optimism is University of Michigan consumer sentiment index data which fell to 70.2 from its previous 81.2 level in July. For those of you wondering, that’s the largest sentiment drop since April 2020 — when the pandemic took its initial grip.
In light of neutral-to-bearish data, two large-cap retailers reporting this week could outperform expectations…
While their earnings reports will give us a good indication of investor sentiment, what I’m most excited about is the forward-looking data.
It’ll tell us what large-cap retailers see happening over the next few quarters, and whether the delta variant will cause an increase in Consumer Staples and a decline in Consumer Discretionary. Or whether both sectors are set to rise…
So will large-cap retailers outperform expectations?
Will Large-Cap Retailers Outperform Expectations?
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is set to lead retail earnings this week with its quarterly update on Tuesday.
Investors will look for signs of consumer strength heading into the autumn months, and the impact of child tax credit payments on back-to-school supplies.
WMT is expected to post earnings of $1.56 per share for the three months ending in July. That figure would be down 13 cents from the previous quarter, but largely flat compared to this past year’s tally for the same quarter.
The stock’s technically trading near its highest level this year, so I expect a price target of $180 over the next three months.
Check out my short video below to learn more about WMT and if large-cap retailers will outperform expectations.
Make sure you pay close attention to both of these company’s reports because they have great insight and research on the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it’s going to impact large-cap retailers over the next few quarters.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven’t already so you can be notified as soon as we post our next video!
P.S. I’ve finally broken my silence about a breakthrough strategy that could save traders hours and hours of research…
It all revolves around something I call the “Sniper Line.”
Once a stock crosses it, investors can place a quick trade, check back in a handful of days…
Using this simple line, I have already seen triple-digit gains on stocks, like 261% on NKE… 400% on DIS… and 740% on ANTM.